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Facebook dumbs down privacy policy (in a good way)
Today Facebook debuted a draft of its totally revamped privacy policy, which breaks down the massive dense legalese into 5th-grader-friendly language, with clear segmentation, pretty pictures and even — from the look of it — a larger font size. "Way to go, Facebook!" we say — fighting back the usual mildly paranoid reservations.
Seriously, at a glance, this seems entirely for the better. Take, for instance, the segment titled "How advertising works." Not only does it explain that personalized ads can be delivered to you based on your location, age and interests, but it actually shows the tool used by advertisers to set their targeting preference — and even lets you try it out.
In "Your information and how it is used," Facebook explains every single way it can get information about you, from your registration and sharing to your interactions with friends and apps, as well as from advertisers who may make note of how you responded to an ad. It also explains what's done, which basically boils down to increasing Facebook proliferation and maximizing ad potential. But here and there in the parade of disclosure are some helpful tips, such as how to turn off all apps, so that no apps and games can see your information. (Of course, you'd have to stop playing them, but that's the tradeoff.)
My only real complaint is that you need to open a lot of browser pages to get through it all. The main policy page subdivides into six sections, each with their own multi-part page of explanation. But I can't see any way around it, design-wise, because the big ol' block of text is the real problem, and this gets around it.
You're not necessarily going to come away from the new privacy policy feeling better about your relationship with Facebook. In a sense, it's cold comfort to learn about a gun that's currently pointed at you. But there's value in being able to discern the real issues — for instance, there's still no way to block others from naming you in pictures and posts on their profiles — from paranoid delusion.
This just came up, so we haven't had a chance to go through it, or compare it closely to the formal privacy policy. It's still just a draft, too, so what we see today may not be there Monday. We reserve the right to take back any high praise if it turns out there's some funny business.
In the meantime, it's worth giving a read, especially if, like many fellow Americans, Facebook sucks up "only" 12 percent of your Internet life.
Why don't you go discuss the new privacy policy on, you guessed it, Technolog's Facebook page? That or chat Wilson up on that other public forum, Twitter.
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