Sometime today, Facebook will release “drastically simplified” privacy controls for its popular website. The move comes after weeks of condemnation by bloggers, the media, and internet privacy groups about how the company had violated its users’ basic right to privacy in order to turn a quick buck.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg responded in a Washington Post op ed piece, saying that “Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.”
He went on to say that they intend to make Facebook privacy controls “even stronger.” The Washington Post was an ideal place for him to make his statement because Donald E. Graham, the paper’s Chairman, also sits on the Board of Facebook.
But it was not enough for everyone at the Washington Post. Post blogger Rob Pegoraro wrote that, “The piece falls short of the ‘we’re sorry’ apology you might want,” and went on to express his concerns about its underlying beliefs.
Pegoraro suggests that “a bad user interface can reflect poor design underneath, while Zuckerberg’s ‘we move too fast’ suggests that he thinks Facebook was going in the right direction all along.”
So what are the new privacy controls that Facebook plans to implement? Dunno. For now that’s being kept private.