Facebook translates its privacy policy back into plain English
Facebook is changing its privacy policies yet again, but this time it's using language regular people might be able to understand. A new initiative called Privacy Basics attempts to inform Facebook users of how its settings work, including interactive tutorials on how to take control of your privacy on the social network.
The guides are pretty simple to follow and include information on how to manage and delete personal information, control who sees updates to your profile and how Facebook uses your personal data. While the actual policies (the terms of service, data policy and cookies policy are all due to be updated after a consultation period) aren't dramatically different, some of the language has been modified to make it easier to understand. While it's still not an easy read, it's a lot less vague and far shorter than the policy it's set to replace. There are also new sections that reflect Facebook's focus on payments and location-aware ads.
The final change comes in the form of an expansion to Facebook's ad-targeting options, which were introduced to the US back in June. The change let you see why you're being served an ad and change what types of ads get served to you, and it's now coming to many additional countries, beginning with Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, and the UK. You can browse through Facebook's new privacy guide here, and, if you've got the time, also check out the proposed changes to the terms of service, data policy and cookies policy. If you've got any comments, questions, or suggestions for Facebook, it's inviting you to submit them through a form on its site.
