Facebook to launch drastically simplified privacy controls tomorrow
25 May 2010
Facebook will be rolling out 'drastically simplified' and improved privacy controls tomorrow, according to Facebook's vice president of products Chris Cox.
He made the announcement at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York today.
It follows an announcement by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that they would overhaul the privacy controls on the world's most popular social network.
In a frank letter to The Washington Post, the 26-year-old admitted they had 'missed the mark' over privacy concerns.
It is hoped this could stop a growing band of members who have pledged to quit the network in protest on May 31.
Mr Zuckerberg said privacy controls would be simplified and they would introduce 'an easy way of turning off third-party services.'
It follows an email exchange with technology Robert Scoble in which the Facebook CEO admitted 'we've made a bunch of mistakes'.
Facebook, which has 400million members, has come under fire from security experts after making it it more difficult for users to keep their personal details private.
A European watchdog said it was unacceptable that users had no option but to share some personal details after the site changed its security settings.
Potentially sensitive information that users were previously able to hide - such as their profile photographs is now automatically on display to anyone.
Details of where members are going, what they are doing and their list of friends are also shown unless they 'opt out' through the security settings.
Now Mr Zuckerberg has tried to stem the backlash by pledging to change how the company handles personal data.
'Sometimes we move too fast,' he admitted in an open letter.
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