Facebook Announces New Privacy Settings

Facebook has given in to public pressure and has made some siginficant improvements (i.e. simplications) to its privacy settings.    These changes are significant and every Facebook user should review the changes and make adjustments to keep your information protected.  These changes are being rolled out over the next few weeks so, if you don't see them in your Facebook privacy settings yet, check back again in a few days.

Here is a link to an article that explains the changes in plain English: http://www.allfacebook.com/2010/05/facebook-privacy-must-know/

Below is an excerpt from the Facebook announcement e-mail:

Starting today, Facebook will: 



* Provide an easy-to-use "master" control that enables users to set who can see the content they share through Facebook. This enables users to choose, with just one click, the overall privacy level they're comfortable with for the content they share on Facebook. Of course, users can still use all of the granular controls we've always offered, if they wish.


* Significantly reduce the amount of information that must be visible to everyone on Facebook. Facebook will no longer require that users' friends and connections are visible to everyone. Only Name, Profile Picture, Networks and Gender must be publicly available. Users can opt to make all other connections private.



* Make it simple to control whether other applications and websites access any user information. While a majority of our users love Facebook apps and Facebook-enhanced websites, some may prefer not to share their information outside of Facebook. Users can now opt out with just one click.