Facebook's privacy policies consist of a collection of user-controlled settings, company policies, and recommended best practices that are meant to enable Facebook users to control the visibility of different parts of their profile.

Overview

Over time, Facebook has made several revisions to its privacy policy and settings. All these revisions have resulted in more control for the user. Users can elect to make their profiles viewable to a range of people -- from everyone to only friends. According to the privacy policy, the "everyone" setting is the default in certain cases and can be altered by changing the privacy settings.

Facebook asserted that its latest changes to privacy controls would enhance users' control over their data and allow them to keep things private. Critics expressed concerns that user privacy might actually be degraded by the changes, and that more content might be exposed to Facebook's own search engine, or to the wider internet via other search engines.

Facebook's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, acknowledged in an interview on January 8, 2009 that Facebook's new privacy settings opened up much of its users' information by default, but suggested that this reflected the current "social norm."

Facebook user data may also be protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy Act ("ECPA"), which mandates legal process prior to releasing any profile data. If a government or private entity requests user information, they must submit a verified subpoena or a search warrant.

External Links

• Facebook Privacy Policy
  
• 60% of Facebook Users Consider Quitting Over Privacy? We Think Not

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See Also

• Facebook
• U.S. Privacy Law
• MySpace Privacy Policy