Changes in privacy policy announced by Facebook
The social network Facebook has announced additional measures so that its users are more informed and have a greater and better control of their privacy. This communication comes after the scandal by filtering data from the web to Cambridge Analytica. The company explains that it has carried out a redesign of the configuration menu on mobile devices, has simplified the Direct Access to Privacy and has improved tools to search, download and remove data from the platform.
In the note, published by Erin Egan (vice president and head of the privacy office) and Ashlie Beringer (vice president and deputy general counsel), Facebook explains its reasons for these changes: "Last week it became clear that we must work much more to enforce our policies, as well as help people understand how Facebook works and what options they have about their data", they clarify.”We have heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too difficult to find, and that we must do more to keep people informed," they write.
Thus, the company follows the modifications announced last week by its president, Mark Zuckerberg, to "end the abuse of the platform" and that customers can choose which data of their privacy allow access. Facebook has redesigned the configuration menu on smartphones so that the user finds the controls faster: from now on, accessing the settings can be done by pressing a single button with the Direct Access to Privacy menu.
In a clear reference to the Cambridge Analytics scandal, the social network has cleaned the outdated configuration "so that it is clear what information can or cannot be shared with the applications", according to the company itself. With these modifications, you can add more layers of protection to the account, control personal information (review what has been shared and delete it if you want), and decide what information you allow Facebook to use to show personalized ads or manage who sees what the client publishes.
"Some people want to erase things they have shared in the past, while others are only curious about the information that Facebook has", so, according to this premise, the company adds the Access to Your Information menu, from which it can be eliminate what has been published. In the same way, the social network aims to make it easier to download data that has been shared. For the future, Facebook is committed to explaining "in a detailed and easy-to-understand language," continues the note, how they collect and use their customer's data. The next updates will be oriented to the data policy and the transparency of the company.
