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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Facebook addresses privacy concerns

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

NEW YORK — Users of the online hangout Facebook revolted and won as the site agreed Friday to let them turn off a new feature that drew privacy complaints because it lets others easily see changes made to their personal profile pages.

“We really messed this one up,” Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said in an open letter to users.

The backlash came over Facebook’s decision Tuesday to deliver automated, customized alerts about a user’s closest friends, classmates and colleagues. Users who log on might instantly find out that someone they know has joined a new social group, posted more photos or begun dating their best friend.

All of the information presented had been available before, but a person had to visit a friend’s profile page and make note of any changes — for example, noticing that the friend now has 103 friends instead of 102, and identifying which one got added.

The feature was meant to help users save time. Instead, Facebook saw thousands of users joining protest groups on the site and signing online petitions. A Web journal was even set up calling for users to boycott the site next Tuesday.

The boycott was called off Friday, as was a protest Monday outside the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

Zuckerberg told The Associated Press on Thursday that Facebook was working on giving users additional privacy options. The safeguards let users block from feeds entire categories — such as changes to the groups they belong to — while still allowing people to observe such changes by visiting the profile page.