Facebook Makes Privacy Policy Easier to Read

Facebook is attempting to make its privacy policy more user friendly—it's deployed "the Facebook design experience" to a chunk of legalese that many users found challenging to understand. Noting that the previous policy was "longer than the US constitution," the site has created a new draft chunked into headings such as "Your information and how it is used" and "How advertising works," the Wall Street Journal reports. The policy itself doesn't change, it's just presented in a way that makes it easier to digest.

The new format, for instance, contains screenshots of exactly what information advertisers get from Facebook about specific users. "We struggle with really hitting home to users that we do not sell their data to advertisers," said one privacy lawyer retained by the site. Early reaction is generally positive. "The new policy is much more of a user guide to how to manage your data," said the director of the Future of Privacy Forum. "You might actually want to read this thing." Adds an MSNBC blogger: "At first glance, this seems entirely for the better." (More Facebook stories.)