Facebook is moving to appease privacy advocates again -- this time with a new page on its social network that offers resources to educate consumers. The changes come after CEO Mark Zuckerberg stuck up for the company's privacy practices at the All Things Digital technology conference on Wednesday. But it may be too little, too late to fend off the privacy watchdogs.
"Once you get on the wrong side of this issue, there's really nothing you can do to appease the privacy advocates other than going out of business. Facebook is in the business of providing advertisers access to you. That's what funds the service. It's the same way Google search works. You get the services for free in exchange for access to you," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. "The privacy advocates want everything to be private -- and free."
On Thursday, Simon Axten, a manager on Facebook's public-policy team, seemed to pick up where Zuckerberg left off in the hot seat at the conference. He officially announced the "Facebook and Privacy Page." The page aims to complement the privacy guide Facebook previously revamped on the site, as well as a series of video tutorials the social-networking giant started publishing last week.
Axten sees the Facebook and Privacy Page as a "living resource" and a "venue to facilitate an interactive discussion about privacy" with Facebook members. This is where Facebook will post updates on relevant new content, products and news stories related to online privacy. The page offers online privacy resources from both Facebook and third-party sources.
"Going forward, we'll be posting updates about new materials we create, tips on how to control your sharing, and links to relevant news stories and viewpoints," Axten said. "We encourage you to 'like' the page to receive those ongoing updates in...
Posted: 2010-06-04 15:12:41
