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Users getting better at managing online privacy settings

A Pew Research study released Friday found that social network site users are becoming more private about their online profiles.
Written by Amy Kraft, Weekend Editor

As more personal information becomes public on the Internet, users are getting better at managing their privacy settings.

A study from the Pew Center's Internet and American Life Project found 63 percent of Internet users have deleted friends from social networking sites, compared to 54 percent in 2009. The study also found nearly half of users deleted comments by friends and 37 percent of people untagged themselves from pictures.

The study found women to be more quick to unclick or delete things from their profiles. Sixty-seven percent of women have removed friends from social networking sites compared to 58 percent of men.

"It's clear from the big stories in the news right now that people really care about privacy," Rebecca Jeschke, a spokesperson for Electronic Frontier Foundation told TechNewsWorld.

The report was based on a telephone survey of 2,277 adults.

But not everyone agrees social network site users can close the door on Internet privacy issues just yet.

TechNewsWorld reports

"Pew doesn't know what they're doing," Jeffrey Chester, executive director at the Center for Digital Democracy told TechNewsWorld. "Their research is so one-dimensional here."

Pew and "most members of the public" don't understand the "powerful marketing strategies" Facebook uses to collect data on users and then influence their actions, Chester said.

Facebook got into trouble over privacy issues last November when the Federal Trade Commission found that the social networking site violated users' privacy. Now Facebook is required to be more transparent with privacy.

Social Network Users Dumping Friends and Locking Doors  [TechNewsWorld]

Photo: Flickr/o5com

This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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