Facebook getting more proactive on privacy awareness

Facebook has taken a lot of hits in the past about not being totally crystal clear with users about privacy policies, whether they have to do with data sharing, automatic opt-in features, and more.

Thus, the world's largest social network is trying to get a little proactive with its privacy strategy -- at least for new users.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company announced in a blog post on Friday that it is rolling out new privacy education features for new users when they sign up for Facebook.

The information itself isn't new, but the manner in which it is presented is the upgrade. Facebook now highlights and zooms in on a lot more on the nitty-gritty details about sharing and what might or might not be public to a person's friends.

This includes specific spotlights on tagging people in content, how they interact with apps and games, and even how ads work on the site.

This also includes in-line privacy controls for customization based on the audience, whether it be for high school classmates or employers.

Facebook cited that it did get some help with setting this education platform up from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner's Office, the regulatory oversight agency for Facebook's services outside of the United States and Canada.

Interestingly, while Facebook is trying to step up its efforts for spreading privacy awareness, some users who have been on Facebook longer left comments on the announcement blog post asking for where their extra help is. Considering there are already a billion people on the social network, that's quite a few people they might have missed with this education campaign.

Source : zdnet