SAN FRANCISCO—Today the ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and a lineup of ten of the nation's top privacy groups sent an open letter to Facebook calling for the social networking giant to fix remaining issues concerning user privacy and control. Facebook recently took steps to address some privacy problems, but the groups contend more needs to be done. They are urging Facebook to demonstrate commitment to its own principle of user control by addressing several outstanding privacy concerns.

"Despite recent changes, Facebook users' personal information is still visible through privacy cracks most people don't even know about," said Nicole OzerC "It's time for Facebook to plug the app gap and give users real control over all of their information." 

The letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is signed by the ACLU of Northern California, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action, Consumer Watchdog, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Privacy Activism, Privacy Lives, and Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. In it, the groups call on Facebook to take these additional steps to give users control over their information:

• Fix the app gap: empower users to decide exactly which applications can access their personal information

• Make instant personalization opt-in by default

• Do not retain data received from "social plugins" including the "like" button unless the user actually interacts with the plugin and make logout options prominent

• Provider users with control over all information they can share on Facebook – including their name, gender, profile picture, and networks

• Use HTTPS by default to protect users from outside threats

• Provide users with simple tools to export their content and connections from Facebook.

A PDF of the full letter is available online.

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