Privacy groups ask Facebook to withdraw proposed policy changes

ABOUT-FACE: Two privacy groups have said that Facebook's proposed changes to its terms of service will raise privacy risks for users and violate the company’s previous commitments to its roughly one billion members. - Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO: Two privacy advocacy groups urged Facebook Inc to withdraw proposed changes to its terms of service that would allow the company to share user data with recently acquired photo-application Instagram, eliminate a user voting system and loosen e-mail restrictions within the social network.

The changes, which Facebook unveiled on Wednesday, raise privacy risks for users and violate the company’s previous commitments to its roughly one billion members, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Centre and the Centre for Digital Democracy.