But it seems a revised privacy policy, rolled out by Facebook late last week
to simplify security settings, may have gone some way to assuaging the
concerns of users. Despite thousands of people pledging to delete their
Facebook accounts, it is thought that only around 33,000 people pressed the
button, according to news agency AFP.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook, last week rolled out
a new simplified “privacy dashboard” to make it easier for people
to lock down their personal information with a single click. He said that
any setting applied to Facebook accounts would also be applied
retrospectively, and that any new features or elements added to the Facebook
site would automatically default to that privacy setting.

The changes were prompted in part by growing criticism from Facebook users who
were concerned that some personal details were being shared with other users
and third parties without their explicit knowledge or consent. The anonymous
organisers of the Quit Facebook protest group said in a note on their
website that although Facebook gave users a choice about how to manage their
data, they weren’t “fair choices” and Facebook made it “damn
difficult for the average user to understand or manage this”.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that the system of granular settings had been too
complex and said the changes would make it easier for people to control what
information they shared. However, some critics still complain that the
changes have not gone far enough, and that profiles should be set to private
by default, with people deciding to opt-in to sharing aspects of that data
on a case-by-case basis.

Facebook has almost 500 million viewers worldwide. Microsoft bought a 1.6 per
cent stake in the social networking site in 2007 for $240 million.