What does privacy mean in a world dominated by social networking, when sharing detailed personal information online has become a part of everyday life? Protecting privacy online has gained more public attention since last year after social networking giant Facebook made big changes to its privacy policy. Consumer Action’s DC office brought its concerns straight to the top during a call with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Consumer Action, long an advocate for personal and workplace privacy, believes it is crucial to continue a dialogue with Facebook, as the altered privacy settings affect 500 million consumers. This spring, the company switched certain elements of non-public information (such as items designated for “Friends Only”) to public status (or “Everyone”) for all users without their consent. The new default settings disclosed previously restricted personal information to third parties, such as companies that build applications for Facebook. (Facebook applications include games such as the popular Farmville.)

The company claimed to be operating within new “social norms” that indicated people were more willing to publicly share their personal information online. Many Facebook users disagreed with this assessment and felt the company was disregarding their privacy concerns.

A few months later, under pressure from advocates, users, and Congress, Facebook underwent a privacy revamp that included a new, cleaner look for its privacy settings, an option to “opt-out” for all third party sharing of information, and more user control over information. Provided an advanced preview of the new settings, Consumer Action gave Facebook feedback on the changes and urged the company to go further to protect users’ online privacy.

“With the most recent changes, Facebook appears to be committed to improving user access and control of its privacy settings, and increasing its ability to opt-out of information sharing, but more needs to be done,” said Michelle De Mooy, senior associate for national priorities at Consumer Action. “Facebook should commit to asking its users before any changes to the site, such as sharing their personal information with third parties or automatically enrolling them into new programs such as “Instant Personalization” that force them to further link or share their personal information.”

De Mooy went on to say that the company must recognize that consumers are increasingly aware of their privacy online and tired of companies giving away their information under the guise of openness.

“People care about privacy now more than ever,” De Mooy said. “We are pleased that Facebook has pledged to improve user control and choice and we look forward to working together to help them follow through on this commitment. We believe the company must work with a broad coalition of consumer and privacy advocates, regulators, and legislators in order to raise the bar and lead the industry toward empowering and protecting consumers online.”

De Mooy added, “We also hope that this step forward from Facebook will send a message to industry that strong privacy standards aren’t just good policy, they’re good business.”