Chuck Schumer is one of four senators who have decided to take on Facebook czar Mark Zuckerberg. Schumer — who co-signed a letter to the site’s founder with senators Michael Bennet, Mark Begich, and Al Franken — has made this something of a pet issue, as he is demanding that Facebook make it easier for its more than 400 million users to protect their privacy, following a series of changes the site made last week designed to unlock further data about users’ behavior. He sent a letter Sunday to the FTC calling for regulators to create clearer privacy guidelines for Facebook and other Internet social networks.
“The way to go is opt-in,” Schumer said. “The default position should be that the information is not shared, not that the information is shared. The onus here should be on Facebook, not the user.”
Though you might think Schumer wouldn’t know a poke from a profile, the senator is actually an active Facebook user, posting continual updates and having listed his personal faves (Carrie Underwood is a choice musician, and Family Guy a top show) and uploaded two Facebook albums with cutesy captions. Or he just has a really industrious social-media guy on his staff who does it all for him.
Senators demand Facebook make it easier for users to protect privacy [AP via NYDN]
