The popular social networking site Facebook is not doing enough to protect the personal information it gets from subscribers, and it gives users confusing and incomplete information about privacy matters, Canada's privacy commissioner said on Thursday.
“It's clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates," Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a report on an investigation into Facebook.
The report said Facebook violates Canada's privacy laws by keeping the personal information of people who have deactivated their accounts in its databases indefinitely.
It provides confusing information about privacy practices, for example showing users how to deactivate accounts but not how to delete them.
Facebook told the commissioner it needed to keep personal data for those who shut down accounts because about half of users reactivate accounts that they had deactivated.
The report said Facebook had strenuously objected to some of the commissioner's preliminary conclusions, and the company said on Thursday it would continue to work with her to address outstanding areas and to raise awareness of privacy controls.
“It's clear that privacy issues are top of mind for Facebook, and yet we found serious privacy gaps in the way the site operates," Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a report on an investigation into Facebook.
The report said Facebook violates Canada's privacy laws by keeping the personal information of people who have deactivated their accounts in its databases indefinitely.
It provides confusing information about privacy practices, for example showing users how to deactivate accounts but not how to delete them.
Facebook told the commissioner it needed to keep personal data for those who shut down accounts because about half of users reactivate accounts that they had deactivated.
The report said Facebook had strenuously objected to some of the commissioner's preliminary conclusions, and the company said on Thursday it would continue to work with her to address outstanding areas and to raise awareness of privacy controls.
