As Facebook Preps For IPO, Privacy Tweaks

Irish and U.S. privacy audits prompt social network to make changes ahead of its IPO.

6 Social Sites Sitting On The Cutting Edge (click image for larger view and for slideshow)
As Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg prepares to take his company public on Friday, the social network is getting its privacy practices in order by making it easier for users to understand what Facebook knows about them and why.
Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan said Friday that the social network has been working hard to make clearer how we use data when people use Facebook. That comment came via a
blog
titled Enhancing Transparency In Our Data Use Policy, which detailed the social networks many recent privacy-related revisions.
Changes include Activity Log, a new privacy tool that lets you see in one place the information youve posted to Facebook as well as adjust who gets to view that information, according to Egan. New tips--flagged by light bulb icons--have been added to help users to understand privacy policy changes, and a new Facebook section details how the site uses
cookies and similar tracking technology
. We also provide more information about how we use data to operate Facebook, to advertise, and to promote safety and security for Facebook users, she said.
[ Will you use Facebooks new App Center? Read about it at
Facebook App Store: Second Time The Charm?
]
In light of Facebooks upcoming IPO, those advertising changes are especially noteworthy since they give Facebook wiggle room to expand its advertising network beyond the site. Egan said Monday in a
live Q&A on Facebook
, We may serve you an ad on Facebook; we may serve you an ad off of Facebook. She said that some of those advertisements might have a social context, while some might just be for Coke. Egan added, We have nothing to announce today.
Also during the Q&A, Egan said Facebook has revised its data retention guidelines to be clearer, noting that it will retain advertising-related user data for up to 180 days and other data only as long as its required. Weve added a broader statement, basically saying that we will retain your data for as long as necessary to provide services, she said. Were doing it for the minimum necessary to provide that service. For example, if you used Facebook to
play Zynga games
, Facebook would retain the related data until you deleted your Zynga account.
Many of Facebooks privacy-related changes have come in direct response to user feedback, according to Egan, and in the wake of an
audit by the Irish Data Protection Commissioners Office
, which, Egan said, encouraged us to enhance our data use policy to be even more detailed about how we use information. The Irish recommendations carried substantial weight, since Facebook in September 2010 designated Facebook Ireland to be in charge of all data pertaining to users outside of the United States and Canada.
Facebook last year agreed to have its privacy practices audited every two years by an external firm for the next 20 years. That was one stipulation of its
settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission
over charges that 2009 privacy changes deceived consumers by telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public.
Im the first to admit that weve made a bunch of mistakes,
said Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg
, commenting on the November 2011 settlement.
With
Facebook set to go public this Friday
, it appears that he may have taken some of those privacy mistakes--and regulators related demands--to heart, including making it simpler for people to know exactly what Facebook knows about them.
During the Q&A session, for example, and in response to a users question about how they could see what Facebook knows about them, Egan detailed the Download a copy of your Facebook data tool. On your page, go to your Account Settings, and at the bottom, you can [click a link to] basically download the information that we have, she explained.
Listed information can include photos, posts, messages, lists of friends, chat conversations, and other items, and she said this information would be especially useful for anyone who was attempting to delete specific types of information from their Facebook profile. If you want to see what we still have, after youve taken those [deletion] steps, you can see what we have.
The page doesnt list every piece of information that Facebook retains about a particular user, but Egan said that new types of information would continue to be added. She noted that it wasnt easy to distill all of the user information collected by Facebook in such a clear and easily accessible manner. I really feel were leading the industry in this, said Egan.
The
Enterprise 2.0 Conference
brings together industry thought leaders to explore the latest innovations in enterprise social software, analytics, and big data tools and technologies. Learn how your business can harness these tools to improve internal business processes and create operational efficiencies. It happens in Boston, June 18-21. Register today!

Last News
▸ ArcSight prepares for future at user conference post HP acquisition. ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security	▸ Samsung Epic 4G: First To Use Media Hub ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security	▸ Many third-party software fails security tests ◂ Discovered: 07/01/2025 Category: security

**Cyber Security Categories**
Google Dorks Database	Exploits Vulnerability	Exploit Shellcodes

CVE List

Tools/Apps

News/Aarticles

Phishing Database

Deepfake Detection

Trends/Statistics & Live Infos

Tags:
As Facebook Preps For IPO, Privacy Tweaks