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Facebook Does an About Face

September 8, 2006

• GAO: Government Can Do More to Protect Personal Data • US Search Agrees to Stop Selling Private Credit Data • TSA Site Left Passenger Data Exposed To ID Theft • Connecticut Governor Wants 'Opt Out' For Online Directories • Verizon Gave Customer Data To Government Without Court Orders • House Democrats Probe Warrantless Surveillance --- • More Privacy News ...

An online petition is demanding changes at social networking Web site Facebook.com, and the Web site's founder says the protestors have a valid point. At issue is a new feature on the site called News Feed.

Facebook.com introduced the feature on Wednesday. News Feed instantly notifies members when users on their friends list update their own sites. But some people concerned about privacy say the site is overstepping its bounds, making too much information available.

The petition being circulated by a group calling itself "Students Against Facebook News Feed"says the new feature is "too creepy"and "too stalker-esque." While the group concedes that the personal information is voluntarily placed on the site for all to see, it objects to what it says is the "broadcasting"of the information through News Feed.

That wasn't the intention, says company founder Mark Zuckerberg, who, in an open letter to Facebook members, admits to the mistake.

"We really messed this one up. When we launched News Feed and Mini-Feed we were trying to provide you with a stream of information about your social world. Instead, we did a bad job of explaining what the new features were and an even worse job of giving you control of them. I'd like to try to correct those errors now,"Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg said News Feed was built without the privacy controls that are present throughout the rest of the site. He said work is underway to write new code to provide those protections.

"This new privacy page will allow you to choose which types of stories go into your Mini-Feed and your friends' News Feeds, and it also lists the type of actions Facebook will never let any other person know about," he said.

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