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Summary Facebook has agreed to make changes to improve transparency and to protect the data.
Facebook Inc. has agreed to make several changes to its services to improve transparency and better protect the personal data of its millions of users outside of the U.S., following an in-depth audit of its international headquarters that was released Wednesday.The social media company, based in Palo Alto, California, agreed to changes including asking European users if they wanted to partake in its Facial Recognition, reworking its policies of retaining and deleting private data, and reducing the amount of information collected about people who are not logged into Facebook, the company said in response to the report of the Irish Data Protection Commissioner.Facebooks international headquarters are based in Dublin, Ireland, a member of the European Union. This means the company is required to comply with European data privacy laws, which are more stringent than those that apply in the United States, particularly regarding how long data can be retained.Facebook has committed to either implement, or to consider, other best practice improvements recommended by the data protection commissioner, the company said following the announcement of the report. Meeting these commitments will require intense work over the next six months.The company has agreed to present its results in a follow-up to the report in July.Facebook has been scrutinized for its privacy practices in the U.S., too. In November, the company agreed to submit to government audits of its privacy practices every other year for the next two decades as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. The FTCs complaint had alleged that the company exposed details about users lives without getting their consent, as legally required.It is standard for Irelands data protection commissioner to audit any high-tech companies in the country to ensure that their practices are in keeping with the European law, and make recommendations to help them to meet those standards, should they fall short.It is not the object of the audit, to decide whether there is a breach of law, Billy Hawkes, the data protection commissioner, told reporters. It is to help an organization achieve full compliance with law, put their compliance into best practice.
