— Facebook is rewriting its privacy policy in plain-spoken English, and
preparing new tools to show users how their personal data is used.
“We’re really an innovative, cutting-edge company on
a lot of different fronts, and I think we feel like, ‘Why can’t we be
innovators in privacy as well?’ ”
Nevertheless, some critics say Facebook is still not
telling consumers enough about what it knows about them, and about how
the social network and its business partners use that information.
social network about privacy practices like the company’s recent
decision to let third-party developers access the telephone numbers of
users who allow it.
Facebook’s intent to simplify its privacy
disclosures, and to create interactive software tools to allow users to
see how Facebook and application developers access their data, has
drawn praise from some privacy advocates. But, “until Facebook tells
its 600 million members what it tells its major advertisers and
marketing partners — on how to configure its system to generate data
and other desired ad responses — it is failing to protect user
privacy,” said
Compared to the existing 5,900-word privacy
statement, the proposed new policy is easier to read and full of
graphics that illustrate how Facebook works. (Users can view and
comment on the proposal at http://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.)
While privacy advocates say the intent is good, few are convinced the
more plain-spoken policy will keep many people informed about their
privacy choices.
says a privacy policy cannot be both succinct and thorough. “I am
completely skeptical of privacy policies as a way to inform users,” he
said. “Nobody reads them.”
Calo said, however, he is more excited about
interactive tools Facebook is proposing that would allow users to do
things like build their own ad on Facebook, to demonstrate that the
social network does not share an individual’s data with advertisers
targeting a specific demographic.
For example, a
reporter who used the Facebook interactive tool to design an ad that
would target Americans between the ages of 25 and 34 interested in
reading newspaper stories about
the ad would target about 360,000 women and 290,000 men. There was no
way to access the names of users, however, or where those people live.
“We’re really looking at this at some level as an
experiment,” said Richter, who added many users “are saying that this
is helpful and think we’re doing a better job of explaining things.”
Still, privacy advocates like
say Facebook, even in the proposed policy, is not telling users enough
about how it uses data they don’t actively share, such as how Facebook
tracks visits to the pages of other users. Other critics say Facebook
often implements new features that affect a user’s data without
communicating what users get out of it.
“They are constantly changing things, and they don’t notify the users, and I think that bothers users,” said
And Facebook doesn’t appear likely to stop discovering new ways to utilize user data.
As the proposed privacy policy says: “Granting us
this permission not only allows us to provide Facebook as it exists
today, but it also allows us to provide you with innovative features
and services we develop in the future that use your information in new
ways.”
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