US senators voice concerns to Facebook over privacy
AFP - Four US senators expressed concern to Facebook on Tuesday over recent changes to the social network that they say compromise the privacy of its more than 400 million users.
In a letter to Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, the senators said they were concerned that personal information of Facebook users is being made available to third party websites.
They also said Facebook should make sharing personal information an "opt-in" procedure in which a user specifically gives permission for data to be shared.
"Although we are pleased that Facebook allows users to opt-out of sharing private data, many users are unaware of this option and, moreover, find it complicated and confusing to navigate," the senators said.
"Facebook should offer users the ability to opt-in to sharing such information, instead of opting out, and should make the process for doing so more clear and coherent," they said.
"Providing opt-in mechanisms for information sharing instead of expecting users to go through long and complicated opt-out processes is a critical step towards maintaining clarity and transparency," they said.
The letter was signed by Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, and Senator Mark Begich, a Democrat from Alaska.
Zuckerberg rolled out a series of new features last week including the ability for other websites to incorporate Facebook data, a move that would further expand the social network's presence on the Internet.
The senators expressed concern about privacy ramifications.
"Facebook now obligates users to make publicly available certain parts of their profile that were previously private," they said.
"These personal details should remain private unless a user decides that he/she would like to make a connection and share this information with a community," they said.
"We are concerned, however, that this feature will now allow certain third party partners to have access not only to a user's publicly available profile information, but also to the user's friend list and the publicly available information about those friends," they said.
The senators urged Facebook to reverse a decision on the storage of profile data by third parties.
"Previously, Facebook allowed third-party advertisers to store profile data for 24 hours," they said. "We are concerned that recent changes allow that data to be stored indefinitely.
"We believe that Facebook should reverse this policy, or at a minimum require users to opt in to allowing third parties to store data for more than 24 hours."
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AFP - Four US senators expressed concern to Facebook on Tuesday over recent changes to the social network that they say compromise the privacy of its more than 400 million users.
In a letter to Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, the senators said they were concerned that personal information of Facebook users is being made available to third party websites.
They also said Facebook should make sharing personal information an "opt-in" procedure in which a user specifically gives permission for data to be shared.
"Although we are pleased that Facebook allows users to opt-out of sharing private data, many users are unaware of this option and, moreover, find it complicated and confusing to navigate," the senators said.
"Facebook should offer users the ability to opt-in to sharing such information, instead of opting out, and should make the process for doing so more clear and coherent," they said.
"Providing opt-in mechanisms for information sharing instead of expecting users to go through long and complicated opt-out processes is a critical step towards maintaining clarity and transparency," they said.
The letter was signed by Senator Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, Senator Al Franken, a Democrat from Minnesota, Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, and Senator Mark Begich, a Democrat from Alaska.
Zuckerberg rolled out a series of new features last week including the ability for other websites to incorporate Facebook data, a move that would further expand the social network's presence on the Internet.
The senators expressed concern about privacy ramifications.
"Facebook now obligates users to make publicly available certain parts of their profile that were previously private," they said.
"These personal details should remain private unless a user decides that he/she would like to make a connection and share this information with a community," they said.
"We are concerned, however, that this feature will now allow certain third party partners to have access not only to a user's publicly available profile information, but also to the user's friend list and the publicly available information about those friends," they said.
The senators urged Facebook to reverse a decision on the storage of profile data by third parties.
"Previously, Facebook allowed third-party advertisers to store profile data for 24 hours," they said. "We are concerned that recent changes allow that data to be stored indefinitely.
"We believe that Facebook should reverse this policy, or at a minimum require users to opt in to allowing third parties to store data for more than 24 hours."
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