Facebook has closed the notice and comments period on the proposed changes to its privacy policy, and expects to decide by next week whether it needs to further update the policy in the wake of user feedback.
The proposed changes to Facebook's Data Use Policy and Statement of Rights and Responsibilities have been criticized by six privacy groups, who on Wednesday wrote to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that the planned changes violate a 2011 settlement between Facebook and the FTC on user privacy.
"We are taking the time to ensure that user comments are reviewed and taken into consideration to determine whether further updates are necessary and we expect to finalize the process in the coming week," Facebook said Thursday.
Many users on Facebook have been critical of the proposed changes. "While I don't object to Facebook mining my data in order to decide which ads to serve to me, I strongly object to my photos or text content being used to create ads others will see on Facebook," a user commented on the Facebook site governance page. "There should be a setting we can use to prohibit this use, and it should be well publicized so we know how to use it."
Under the proposed changes, Facebook states that by joining the site users "permit a business or other entity to pay us to display your name and/or profile picture with your content or information, without any compensation to you."
Facebook said that the company had not changed its ad practices or policies in the proposed updates, but changed the language to make things clearer to people who use the service.
The changes proposed by Facebook follow the approval by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco division of a US$20 million fund to be set up by Facebook to settle a class-action lawsuit against the site's "sponsored stories" advertising program.
The closure of comments appears to have been on schedule, as the company had asked on Aug. 29 for feedback within the "next seven days."
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com