Privacy Report: 'Facebook Does Not Have Adequate Safeguards'

Facebook's recent move to give members more control over who can see information they post doesn't go far enough to protect users' privacy, according to a new report by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner. The report, released by Canadian official Jennifer Stoddart, found fault with Facebook's practice of allowing nearly 1 million third-party developers to access information about members and their friends. "Facebook does not have adequate safeguards in place to prevent unauthorized access to users' personal information by application developers," the report stated. Stoddard recommended that Facebook impose new restrictions on developers, including limiting their ability to access information that isn't required for the applications to run, and to ban any disclosure of information about users who aren't themselves adding the app. The Canadian privacy commissioner also criticized Facebook for retaining information after users had deactivated their accounts. While Facebook allows users to completely delete their data, some members simply deactivate their accounts instead. Stoddart recommended that Facebook expunge deactivated accounts after "a reasonable length of time."