Founder pledges Facebook privacy changes
Updated on 24 May 2010
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg outlines the privacy changes the company will make, after technology correspondent Benjamin Cohen exclusively revealed they were in the pipeline last week.
In an article for the Washington Post, Mark Zuckerberg says that while he still believes "if people share more, the world will become more open and connected. And a world that's more open and connected is a better world," Facebook's approach to privacy has moved "too fast" and they "missed the mark" with their privacy settings, writes Benjamin Cohen.
Next Monday is billed as "Quit Facebook day" with just under 14,000 people already pledged to leave the site as a result of privacy concerns.
In his Washington Post article, Mr Zuckerberg writes: "The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information. Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.
"We have heard the feedback. There needs to be a simpler way to control your information. In the coming weeks, we will add privacy controls that are much simpler to use. We will also give you an easy way to turn off all third-party services. We are working hard to make these changes available as soon as possible. We hope you"ll be pleased with the result of our work and, as always, we'll be eager to get your feedback.
"We have also heard that some people don"t understand how their personal information is used and worry that it is shared in ways they don"t want. I'd like to clear that up now. Many people choose to make some of their information visible to everyone so people they know can find them on Facebook. We already offer controls to limit the visibility of that information and we intend to make them even stronger."
Mr Zuckerberg lays out five principles that Facebook will now operate under. 1) that users have more control over how information is shared, 2) Facebook will not share personal information with others unless the user has consented, 3) Facebook will not give personal data to advertisers 4) Facebook will not sell personal data and 5) Facebook will remain free for all.
He ends: "Facebook has evolved from a simple dorm-room project to a global social network connecting millions of people. We will keep building, we will keep listening and we will continue to have a dialogue with everyone who cares enough about Facebook to share their ideas. And we will keep focused on achieving our mission of giving people the power to share and making the world more open and connected."
