Four US Senators ask Facebook to reconsider changes that reduce privacy

[Dave Farber <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com>
> Date: April 27, 2010 8:17:33 AM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Four US Senators ask Facebook to reconsider changes that reduce privacy

> Four US Senators ask Facebook to reconsider recent changes that reduce privacy.
>
> http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36406.html
>
> Excerpts from their letter:
>
> "1. Publicly available data. Facebook’s expansion of publicly
> available data to include a user’s current city, hometown, education,
> work, likes, interests, and friends has raised concerns for users who
> would like to have an opt-in option to share this profile information.
> Through the expanded use of “connections,” Facebook now obligates
> users to make publicly available certain parts of their profile that
> were previously private. ..."
>
> "2. Third party data storage. Previously, Facebook allowed third-party
> advertisers to store profile data for 24 hours. We are concerned that
> recent changes allow that data to be stored indefinitely. ..."
>
> "3. Instant personalization. We appreciate that Facebook is attempting
> to integrate the functionality of several popular websites, and that
> Facebook has carefully selected its initial partners for its new
> “instant personalization” feature. 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."
>
> "We hope that Facebook will stand by its goal of creating open and
> transparent communities by working to ensure that its policies protect
> the sensitive personal biographical data of its users and provide them
> with full control over their personal information. We look forward to
> the FTC examining this issue, but in the meantime we believe Facebook
> can take swift and productive steps to alleviate the concerns of its
> users. 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."
>
> Sincerely,
>
> U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
>
> U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO)
>
> U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK)
>
> U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN)



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com