Facebook will include their users say over their privacy to settle DTC investigation

Friday, November 11th, 2011 7:42:49 by

Facebook will include their users say over their privacy to settle DTC investigation

Facebook is nearing a settlement with federal regulators that would require the world’s most popular online hangout to obtain approval from its users before making changes that expose their profiles and activities to a wider audience.

Citing people familiar with the situation that it did not name, The Wall Street Journal said Facebook has agreed to make the changes to resolve a nearly 2-year-old investigation by the Federal Trade Commission.

The Journal says that if the settlement is approved by FTC’s commissioners, it would require Facebook to get explicit consent from its 800 million users before changing its privacy settings. Facebook would also submit to government reviews of its privacy
practices for 20 years.

The audits are similar to the scrutiny that Internet search leader Google Inc. agreed to undergo earlier this year.

That agreement settled an FTC investigation into Google’s handling of people’s personal information in February 2010 when it launched a service called Buzz to counter Facebook.

Buzz exposed the email contacts of unwitting users, a breach that the FTC considered to be a deceptive practice.

As part of its proposed settlement, Facebook would also submit to government reviews of its privacy practices for 20 years, according to the Journal.

Google is now in the process of closing Buzz to focus on another social network called Plus that debuted in June.

In an interview with Charlie Rose shown earlier this week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he believes the website’s changes over the past year have given users greater control over their privacy.

“I think we’re going to need to keep on making it easier and easier, but that’s our mission, right?” Zuckerberg told Rose. “I mean, we have to do that because now, if people feel like they don’t have control over how they’re sharing things, then we’re failing
them.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Facebook has agreed to make the changes to resolve a nearly 2-year-old investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. The Journal cited unnamed people familiar with the situation.

Facebook declined to comment, and FTC officials didn’t immediately return calls.

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