Behind Your Business

In response to requests, Facebook on Wednesday asked its 350 million users to update their privacy settings. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company has rolled out new privacy settings to give users more control over the content they share.

"Facebook is transforming the world's ability to control its information online by empowering more than 350 million people to personalize the audience for each piece of content they share," said Elliot Schrage, vice president of communications. "We've always designed Facebook to enable people to control what information they share with whom -- it's the reason our service continues to attract such a broad and diverse group of users from around the world."

Facebook's efforts toward a shared Internet backfired in the past few years, especially its Beacon feature, which posted Facebook users' purchases on third-party sites, including Amazon.com and Overstock.com, without permission. Facebook eliminated the Beacon program and agreed to pay $9.5 million toward the creation of a nonprofit foundation to promote online privacy, safety and security. The settlement also included $41,500 for the 19 individuals who filed the lawsuit.

Step in the Right Direction

Organizations including the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada have been pushing for changes and said Facebook's move is a step in the right direction.

"I think Facebook obviously cares about privacy, and they are responding to requests from EPIC and users who have expressed concern," said EPIC Consumer Privacy Counsel Kim Nguyen. He added that while Facebook is moving in the right direction, users should still pay close attention to how their information is being used.

"Facebook users have reason to be concerned because if you look at Facebook's history with its sharing with everyone option and Beacon, it shows Facebook is moving to greater disclosure of user information," Nguyen said. "That is fine for...