Facebook indgår forlig med FTC

Facebook har indgået et forlig med amerikanske Federal Trade Commision (FTC), hvor Facebook indrømmer at have begået løftebrud overfor brugerne af Facebook, ved at se stort på deres privatliv.

Blandt andet har Facebook lovet brugerne, at deres oplysninger ikke ville være tilgængelige for andre, hvorefter Facebook har ændret indstillingerne så deres private informationer alligevel blev tilgængelige for andre. Desuden har Facebook gjort private data tilgængelige for eksterne annoncører og de apps man installere på sin Facebookprofil. Desuden har Facebook givet adgang for andre til oplysninger i slettede profiler.

Facebook har i forliget med FTC nu bl.a. gået med til, at man som bruger aktivt skal tilvælge deling af oplysninger før Facebook må bruge dem, samt at slettede profiler ikke er tilgængelige for andre.

Facebook har udsendt en officiel undskyldning her, hvor Mark Zuckerberg blandt andet skriver:

That said, I’m the first to admit that we’ve made a bunch of mistakes. In particular, I think that a small number of high profile mistakes, like Beacon four years ago and poor execution as we transitioned our privacy model two years ago, have often overshadowed much of the good work we’ve done.

I also understand that many people are just naturally skeptical of what it means for hundreds of millions of people to share so much personal information online, especially using any one service. Even if our record on privacy were perfect, I think many people would still rightfully question how their information was protected. It’s important for people to think about this, and not one day goes by when I don’t think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust.

Facebook has always been committed to being transparent about the information you have stored with us – and we have led the internet in building tools to give people the ability to see and control what they share.

But we can also always do better. I’m committed to making Facebook the leader in transparency and control around privacy.