Facebook Inc(NASDAQ:FB)’s new privacy rules which
eliminates a previous system of user voting and allows the company to share
user data with photo app Instagram has raised the hackles of privacy groups.
Two privacy advocacy groups - Electronic Privacy
Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy - said that the changes
which were revealed by Facebook on Wednesday raised privacy concerns for its 1
billion users and were in violation of the company's stated commitments
previously.
"Facebook's proposed changes implicate the user
privacy and terms of a recent settlement with the Federal Trade
Commission," the groups said in a letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark
Zuckerberg that was published on their websites on Monday.
The intention to share information with Instagram
meant that the two profiles would be combined, while so far the services have
been kept separate.
Earlier this year the social networking site had
settled charges of privacy with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it had
deceived users in terms of how it used their information and to what extent.
There were also allegations that it forced them to share more information than
they intended.
Facebook is required to get user permission before it
can make changes to privacy settings and on this score is subject to 20 years
of independent audit.
Facebook unveiled a variety of proposed changes to its
terms of service and data use polices including a move to scrap a 4-year old
process that can allow the social network's roughly 1 billion users to vote on
changes to its policies.
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