Facebook Tries To Reassure Schumer
April 28, 2010
| 5:53 PM
Aides to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, met with Facebook representatives Wednesday to discuss concerns over new features on the social networking site that have raised objections from privacy advocates who say the firm over shares user data with outside sites. Schumer had urged the FTC this week to produce norms for how Facebook and other social networking sites should treat user information.
At the meeting, Facebook promised to explore and respond to the staff's concerns, Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said. (Noyes is the former editor of Tech Daily Dose) "We appreciate their thoughts and look forward to their assistance in helping make sure users understand the controls they have over their information and what happens with information they share," he said.
Facebook executives downplayed the significance of public criticism over the new features during a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "Many of our innovations when they were first introduced were not received well by the community," Elliot Schrage, Facebook's global communications vice president, said. He pointed to backlash after the site expanded beyond college campuses and when it introduced its newsfeed feature. Concern fizzled as users "saw the benefits" of these tools, according to Schrage.
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