Facebook's privacy fixes: Good enough?

Confronted with growing outrage from users over the handling of their personal information, Facebook has begun rolling out a much-simplified set of privacy controls this week. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stresses that the company has "listened carefully" to complaints from its nearly 500 million users "in order to figure out the best next steps." The American Civil Liberties Union has declared that, "Facebook is finally friending privacy again." But will the changes be enough to regain public trust? (Watch Mark Zuckerberg announce new privacy settings.)

What's not to like? "With controls this simple," says Jolie O'Dell in Mashable, "it’s hard to imagine" anyone still being "confused" or upset over Facebook's privacy settings. The site has literally revamped their entire control interface to give users an easier way to keep their information private.

"How Facebook's new privacy controls work"

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

There's still plenty to be unhappy about: Facebook's new settings still "share your private info ... by default," says Harry McCracken in Technologizer. Certainly, most users would be happier to "opt-in rather than opt-out" of having their private data widely available. "Overall, though, the changes look like a significant step in the right direction."

"Facebook's privacy makeover: Are you mollified?"

Zuckerberg is trying to please the government, too: It also remains to be seen "whether D.C. lawmakers... or the Federal Trade Commission" — both of which have expressed concern over the site's privacy policy — will have their concerns assuaged by the fixes, says Caroline McCarthy in CNET. Either way, Zuckerberg apparently now understands the scrutiny given to a company on the "big international stage."

"Do Facebook's new privacy settings let if off the hook?"