One of the many criticisms of Facebook is that it’s hard to know what happens to personal information once the social media service gets a hold of it. Facebook is finally addressing this long-standing problem with a revised privacy policy announced Tuesday.
The new rules go into effect Jan. 1, 2015, and while according to Facebook “nothing is changing” in terms of actual policy, the company is revising the language to make it more understandable. Although Facebook’s new privacy policy is by no means easy reading, the edits remove of much of the legal jargon present in past revisions.
Facebook is also rolling out a tool to help users manage their privacy settings. The new Privacy Basics page walks new users through a step-by-step explanation of Facebook’s core features and how privacy settings can be used to restrict access to photos, comments and even entire profiles based on the desired level of privacy.
While a clear and easy-to-use privacy system is a step in the right direction, Facebook’s advertising practices continue to be a contentious issue. Hiding mobile advertisements is relatively simple through in-app controls, but users cannot opt out of behavioral tracking from the Digital Advertising Alliance through Facebook. Users must fill out a form on the DAA website to stop the tracking, which Facebook uses to serve personalized ads.
