NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Four US Senators ask Facebook to reconsider changes that reduce privacy
----- Forwarded message from Dave Farber <dfarber@me.com> ----- Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:05:27 -0400 From: Dave Farber <dfarber@me.com> Subject: [IP] Four US Senators ask Facebook to reconsider changes that reduce privacy Reply-To: dave@farber.net To: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com> Begin forwarded message: > From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw@gmail.com> > Date: April 27, 2010 8:17:33 AM EDT > To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net> > Subject: Four US Senators ask Facebook to reconsider changes that reduce privacy > > Four US Senators ask Facebook to reconsider recent changes that reduce privacy. > > http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36406.html > > Excerpts from their letter: > > "1. Publicly available data. Facebook’s expansion of publicly > available data to include a user’s current city, hometown, education, > work, likes, interests, and friends has raised concerns for users who > would like to have an opt-in option to share this profile information. > Through the expanded use of “connections,” Facebook now obligates > users to make publicly available certain parts of their profile that > were previously private. ..." > > "2. Third party data storage. Previously, Facebook allowed third-party > advertisers to store profile data for 24 hours. We are concerned that > recent changes allow that data to be stored indefinitely. ..." > > "3. Instant personalization. We appreciate that Facebook is attempting > to integrate the functionality of several popular websites, and that > Facebook has carefully selected its initial partners for its new > “instant personalization” feature. We are concerned, however, that > this feature will now allow certain third party partners to have > access not only to a user’s publicly available profile information, > but also to the user’s friend list and the publicly available > information about those friends." > > "We hope that Facebook will stand by its goal of creating open and > transparent communities by working to ensure that its policies protect > the sensitive personal biographical data of its users and provide them > with full control over their personal information. We look forward to > the FTC examining this issue, but in the meantime we believe Facebook > can take swift and productive steps to alleviate the concerns of its > users. Providing opt-in mechanisms for information sharing instead of > expecting users to go through long and complicated opt-out processes > is a critical step towards maintaining clarity and transparency." > > Sincerely, > > U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) > > U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) > > U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) > > U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) > ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com ----- End forwarded message -----