Facebook Introduces New Simpler Privacy Policy
Source: Kara Pendleton
Facebook, the huge social media-networking site which counts more than 1.3 billion users worldwide announced a new update regarding the Privacy Policy, making it easier to read and understand.
After receiving many comments about the long Policy Agreement and also about the difficulty of understanding it, Facebook has decided to update the document and cut off 70 percent of its length.
On Thursday, Privacy Basics was introduced, which is an interactive guide that helps users to better understand how Facebook collects and uses their data. Also, you can find frequently asked questions and learn how to control who sees your posts and info.
“Privacy Basics is the latest step we’ve taken to help you make sure you’re sharing with exactly who you want, including our privacy checkup, reminder for people posting publicly and simplified audience selectors,” posted Erin Egan, Chief Privacy Officer in Facebook’s newsroom.
Using this update, Facebook has also added some new privacy policies, especially in regards to ads, payments and location services.
Up until recently, Facebook allowed business owners to advertise their products or services to users based on the “current city” on their profile. The new feature lets them use your location as well, given the fact that both the new and the old policy lets the site to access your location based on your smartphone’s GPS signal.
You can also find ads from your most visited websites on and off Facebook, if the companies behind the specific websites ask Facebook to allow them to show ads to the users that they recorded using browser cookies.
If you were already concerned about your data being used by Facebook, prepare for a new hit, as they also announced the release of a new tool that helps you buy certain things without even having to leave the website. However, they will have access to your payment information and billing and shipping address.
Another new feature is about the ads and how you can control them on different devices:
“In the past, if you opted out of certain kinds of advertising on your laptop, that choice may not have been applied for ads on your phone. We know that many people use more than one phone, tablet, or browser to access Facebook, so it should be easy for you to make a single choice that applies across all of your devices,” said Egan.
The final updates will be set on the 20th of November. Users have until then to submit comments and suggestions.
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