Toronto, Canada — More than 200 million Facebook users around the world scored a great victory as the world’s most popular social-networking Web site, on Thursday, agreed in accordance with the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, announced to implement a major enhancement to its user privacy controls as well as its developer API, and agreed to improve the way personal information is collected and used, as a large number of third-party applications built on Facebook’s developer platform, Canada’s privacy commissioner said in a report from Ottawa.
In a move that may instill a sense of deja vu, Facebook was hauled up before Canada’s Privacy Commission for violating the country’s privacy laws.
Closely held Facebook Inc. will forbid developers of third-party applications such as games and quizzes from retrieving personal information without explicit permission of the users, Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart stated in her report. Users will also receive clearer information about how to cancel accounts.
“Facebook users in Canada and around the globe will be far better protected,” Stoddart said, adding she is satisfied the changes will help the company adhere to Canadian law.
The Canadian Privacy Commissioner’s office issued a set of recommendations for Facebook last month, specifically emphasizing about concerns that third-party applications could access a significant amount of users’ personal data. “It is clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates,” commissioner Stoddart said in a release at the time.
Accusing the social-networking site last month, the Privacy Commission had ordered Facebook to comply with its guidelines within a month. Facebook agreed Thursday to adhere to these guidelines to protect users’ privacy.
“These modifications indicates that the privacy of 200 million Facebook users in Canada and around the globe will be far better protected,” Commissioner Stoddart said.
Previously, Facebook updated its user privacy protection was in July, when chief privacy officer Chris Kelly said that Facebook was in the process of modifying and standardizing its privacy settings.
Also last year, under pressure from various state Attorneys General, Facebook pledged to privacy changes to prevent young people using the service. Kelly promised “to continue improving our technology and policy solutions to keep kids safer on Facebook.”
Facebook will overhaul its application platform according to the recommended set of changes that will require third-party applications to specify which fields of user data they access (birthdays, favorite music, geographic location, etc.) and will require users to offer explicit permission before an app can access any of their friends’ profile data. This also complies with the guidelines offered earlier this week by a chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which highlighted the amount of personal data that third-party apps can access–sometimes without a user knowing it.
“Our productive and constructive dialogue with the Commissioner’s office has offered us an opportunity to improve our policies and practices in a way that will provide even greater transparency and control for Facebook users,” Elliot Schrage, Facebook’s vice president of global communications and public policy, said in a release Thursday. “We believe that these changes are not only great for our users and address all of the Commissioners’ outstanding concerns, but they also set a new standard for the industry.”
Under these broad recommendations, Facebook will now strictly prevent any access to personal information by third-party developers creating Facebook applications such as games and quizzes. There are reportedly more than 950,000 such developers for Facebook in some 180 countries.
Nevertheless, the current report reduces the chances of Stoddart filing a lawsuit to force changes. “I doubt it will come to that because we have had such good cooperation from Facebook,” Stoddart told reporters when asked about the chance of a lawsuit.
However, the safety of minors on social networking sites still remains an pestering issue. Last week, for instance, the FBI arrested a 28-year-old man in Orange County, Calif., for allegedly attempting to use social networking sites, including Facebook and MySpace, in conjunction with e-mail and text messages, to lure underage girls for sex.
The company, based in Palo Alto, California, has about 250 million users who regularly post updates about their daily lives and share pictures with friends, and the site’s popularity has raised concerns about how personal information is handled. Stoddart said the case is the first comprehensive review of the company’s privacy rules, and the changes will apply worldwide.
Around 12 million Canadians actively use Facebook, according to the commissioner’s office — roughly one of every three of the country’s 33.6 million residents.