MySpace to make privacy settings simpler

MySpace made the changes in the profile settings due to the problem faced by its social networking rival, Facebook, regarding its privacy policies.

Facebook, the Palo Alto, California, based company intense criticism has come under from the U.S. Privacy and consumer groups, U.S. Lawmakers and the European Union.

Mike Jones,co-president of MySpace, said that they are planning to launch simplified privacy settings for profile users.

He added, “MySpace early on recognized the issues facing a website with a massive global population and we’ve taken our responsibilities seriously. We take a holistic approach to safety, security and privacy and align our product and practices around the needs of our users, while at the same time working closely with industry experts, law enforcement, regulators, and safety and privacy advocates.”

Jones said that they had plans to uncomplicate its privacy settings to create an easy and understanding approach for its users so that they have better control over their information.

MySpace and its settings
Owned by News Corporation and headquartered at Beverly Hills, California, MySpace is one of the world's largest social networking website with about 125 million users.

Jones said that they had plans to uncomplicate its privacy settings to create an easy and understanding approach for its users so that they have better control over their information.

The setting options of My Space will include “public, friends only or public to anyone 18 or over.”

As per the changes, MySpace will have 'friends only' as default settings for any user . The user can change this option any time when they want to.

My Space took this immediate step in order to differentiate itself from its rival, Facebook.

The two sides of Facebook
Facebook, the famous social networking website, is in deep trouble due to its privacy settings.

Of late, the social networking giant, Facebook had launched new feature called social plugins that enables users to see what their friends like on website they visit the most, thus enabling them to share their online experience.

Though the feature had been introduced to personalize the online experience for its users, Facebook has come under fire.

Even the Senators had asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into the feature launched as they believed that the new tools have put users’ privacy at risk.

This was one side of the coin. On the other side, Facebook says that it has given the consumers a complete control over the information they want to share.

"None of our recent product announcements removed or reduced people's control over their information and several offered even greater controls," Facebook spokesman, Andrew Noyes told the Wall Street Journal.

He further added, “We appreciate the concerns that have been raised about user control of these new capabilities and have committed to responding to those concerns. If there are things we can do better, we will."