Social networking giant Facebook is offering a step-by-step education tour for new members as a part of the campaign that addresses European regulatory agency concerns.
"At Facebook, we're committed to making sure that you understand how sharing works on our site and that you are in control of what you share and with whom," Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan said in a statement. "That's why we're pleased to be rolling out more prominent and detailed educational privacy information to new users as soon as they begin the process of signing up for Facebook. These updates to our sign-up process will be visible to most new users around the globe starting today."
Referring to a privacy audit conducted by data protection officials in Ireland last month, the statement said, "We appreciate the guidance on this effort that we've received from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner's Office, the regulatory oversight agency for our services outside of the United States and Canada."
According to the new privacy policy initiative, users will receive specific education on topics including default settings; selecting an audience for information shared on Timeline; access to their data; how they interact with applications, games, and websites; how ads works on the site; tagging people and things; and finding friends on Facebook through search and contact importers.
"We've also added in-line privacy controls to the new user experience so that people can select an audience for their High School, College/University, and Employer as they sign up for Facebook," the statement said. "As always, we've updated our existing privacy resources on Facebook - like our Help Center and educational pages - to reflect recent product changes."
