Facebook to introduce 'simplified' privacy settings

Facebook will be rolling out “simplified” privacy settings to appease concerns over safeguarding users’ information, it was announced.

The company’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the alterations would make it easier for users to control how much information they were sharing.

He admitted the privacy settings had become too complex and said the new system would allow users to change their settings in “just one click” using a simple grid.

However Mr Zuckerberg insisted that some information should remain in the public domain so that “real world friends” could find each other on the social networking site.

Speaking from Facebook’s US headquarters in Palo Alto, California yesterday, Mr Zuckerberg added that members would also have a new level of control over the information they shared with external applications and third parties. Users can “opt out” of allowing others to access their information.

He said: “The new privacy settings are a balance between sharing and helping people find you on the service.

“Some people say all information should be private as possible but that is not what users have told us they want.

“More and more people want to share information and as long as they have good controls over that, I really think that is where the world is going.

“We really do believe in privacy and we believe in giving people control.

“We want to make sure that the people who are using our services understand what we are doing so we have also revamped the privacy guide.”

Facebook director of policy in Europe and the Middle East Richard Allan said the data which was visible to the general public would also be significantly reduced.

He said their name, profile picture, networks, and gender were openly available so members could find other users on the network. More personal pieces of data such as friends and pages can be restricted.

“If you think of a telephone book, it is there so people can find and connect with people but the system doesn’t work if everyone is ex-directory,” he said.

Mr Allan added that if members of the site preferred the old, more complex, security settings then they could still use them.

The site, which has more than 400 million users worldwide, has faced mounting criticism from users, online security experts and the European Commission over changes making it more difficult for users to keep their personal information private.

A data protection consultant to the commission wrote to Facebook criticising its privacy procedures earlier this month.

The Data Protection Working Party said it was “unacceptable” for the social networking site to make some profile details public by default.

Earlier this week Mr Zuckerberg said the website operators had “missed the mark” with the privacy controls on the site.

Writing a column for the Washington Post he said: “The biggest message we have heard recently is that people want easier control over their information.

“Simply put, many of you thought our controls were too complex.

“Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.”

The co-founder of the company promised users that the firm would never sell any personal information and added that Facebook would remain a free service.