Issue #31 Vol. 35, September 8th, 2009
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News

Facebook to increase user privacy

By John Morrison III

 Popular social networking site to adjust privacy policy following Canadian investigation

The social networking site Facebook announced changes to its privacy policy last week following an investigation by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Concerns over third-party data mining, account deactivation/deletion, and non-user privacy were addressed.

“These changes mean that the privacy of 200 million Facebook users in Canada and around the world will be far better protected,” says Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart.

The investigation was prompted by complaints about the use, security, and sale of users’ personal information.

For example, when you install an application such as “Which M. Night Shyamalan twist are you?” or “Superpoke,” you are asked to give the application developer full access to your profile. By doing so, you give your permission for your information, including age, city of residence, and countless other things, to be sold to marketing firms or any other interested parties.

Under the new policy, which is being implemented over the course of the next 12 months, application developers will have to advise users what information they want and will be required to receive consent in order to access it.

In the past, Facebook users who wanted to abandon the site were not given the option to delete their account permanently. Instead, they had to deactivate it, leaving their account information available. The forthcoming changes will allow users to delete their account permanently.

Those who had been invited to use Facebook using its email address book importer or invitation systems had their email addresses kept on file by Facebook. Facebook’s new privacy policy will require them to detail what they do with the records of these email addresses.

Representatives from Facebook cooperated with the Commissioner’s Office for over a year during the investigation.

“Our productive and constructive dialogue with the Commissioner’s Office has given us an opportunity to improve our policies and practices in a way that will provide even greater transparency and control for Facebook users,” said Elliot Schrage, vice-president of global communications and public policy at Facebook.

While these changes have been welcomed by the majority of privacy critics, complaints about the use of users’ likeness in advertisements continue to fall on deaf ears. The Electronic Privacy Information Center has also raised concerns about the how users are listed in public searches, and tagged photos.

Facebook was founded in 1994 and has since become the most popular social networking site on the internet, surpassing MySpace in unique visitors in January of 2009.