Facebook on December 12 unveiled simplified tools for protecting privacy at the world's leading social network and made it easier for users whose pictures are on display to ask friends to remove them. Facebook privacy "kit" updates that will begin rolling out next week include shortcuts to controls; a simple-to-use log of what a user has been sharing, and tools for managing pictures "tagged" with their names.
"Our goal is making sure people understand the ways they can control their information," Facebook chief privacy officer Erin Egan told AFP while providing an early look at the changes.
"We want people to make the choices that are right for them."
Facebook last year introduced "in-context controls" that call attention to privacy settings at moments when members are taking actions such as posting comments or pictures. The shortcuts were meant to build on the strategy of putting privacy controls in easy reach at relevant moments during activities at the social network, according to Egan.
Tools from account settings and privacy controls pages were consolidated in one spot, where guides for helping use them are in plain language instead of technical jargon.
Examples included guidance provided for finding out "Who can see my stuff?" or "How can I keep people from bothering me?"
Facebook will also require many applications synched to the social network to separately ask users for personal information from accounts or for permission to post anything back to a user's timeline at the social network.