Facebook Revamps Privacy Controls

Facebook has made several changes to its privacy controls, improving privacy on the social network overall, but still not enough according to some security experts.

A few days ago, Facebook announced new privacy-oriented features. These include inline controls that allow users to define who can view thei status updates - friends, public or a custom selection of individuals.

This can also be set for posts that have already been published, therefore allowing users to revert their previous decisions.

The same kind of privacy controls have been introduced for information that appears on people's profiles, such as their likes.

Another long-awaited feature, photo tag confirmation, has been introduced. Users must now give their approval before a picture they've been tagged into appears on their profile.

According to security experts from Sophos, while this setting is good, it isn't enough to satisfy privacy concerns regarding tagging.

"It's our belief that many Facebook users would like the ability to block anyone from tagging them in photographs without their express permission, rather than simply blocking the photo from appearing on their profile," they write.

There are, however, some other tagging improvements. One of them allows users to block people from tagging their content or pictures. Also, people can now easily see how their profiles appears to other users by using a new feature called "View Profile As."

"Although I'm pleased to see what appears to be Facebook simplifying its privacy settings, and making them more visible, it has missed an opportunity to lead the way on privacy," writes Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.

"Facebook should become truly opt-in. Not just on the basis that a new user opts in altogether by joining Facebook in the first place, but on the basis that everything is locked down until a new user opens up each feature," he adds.