The Privacy Commissioner of Canada said earlier this year that
Facebook did not protect private information well enough to comply
with Canada's laws on privacy. It said that the company's
explanations of its privacy policies were "confusing and
incomplete".
Facebook has now said that it will clear up its descriptions of
what information it collects and how and will give users more
control over what information third party developers of
applications within Facebook can access.
Facebook provoked controversy when it refused to delete accounts
and the information associated with them, instead allowing users to
'deactivate' them, with the information retained by Facebook in
case the user wanted to reactivate their account.
Though the company changed its policy to allow deletion the
Canadian Privacy Commissioner and others have noted that it was
difficult to do and that the company's information pages referred
most commonly to deactivation.
The company also faced a storm of protest over a proposed
targetted advertising system that it called 'beacon' and which
privacy campaigners said violated users' privacy by publishing the
results of Facebook members' use of other websites.
Facebook said that it would now "[update] the Privacy Policy to
better describe a number of practices, including the reasons for
the collection of date of birth, account memorialization for
deceased users, the distinction between account deactivation and
deletion, and how its advertising programs work".
It also said that it would "increase the understanding and
control a user has over the information accessed by third-party
applications".
Applications are pieces of software created to run within
Facebook. The makers of this software are given access to users'
personal details, but critics have said that not every application
maker needs access to every piece of personal information on a
user.
Facebook has said that applications developers will now have to
seek more specific permission from members for the use of
particular kinds of information.
"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 for
Facebook.
In a blog post aimed at the developers of these applications,
the company said that changes would be some time away.
"We have committed to making these enhancements over the next
twelve months, and anticipate a lengthy beta period including
opportunities for you to provide input, multiple blog posts, and
updated documentation delivered well ahead of time," said
Facebook's Ethan Beard in the post.
"We've committed to requiring developers to specify in advance
what categories of user data they will need," he said. "When users
authorize an application, they will have the opportunity to opt out
of giving certain pieces of information. There may be some fields
that, at minimum, are necessary for the application to function. We
will make it clear that the user must authorize the required fields
in order to use the application."
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