New Facebook users will be educated on privacy

Facebook has announced that when signing up for the social network, new users will be subjected to a more prominent and detailed education about privacy and information sharing.

New users will be instructed on default settings; how to choose who will be able to see the information they share on Timeline; how to access to their data, interact with applications, games, and websites; how ads works on the site, how to tag people and things; and how to find friends on Facebook through search and contact importers.

Facebook has also added in-line privacy controls for the High School, College/University, and Employer entries, so that they can decide who gets to see that particular information.

“We’ve implemented these enhancements as part of our broader effort to integrate more privacy education into the new user experience. We appreciate the guidance on this effort that we’ve received from the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s Office, the regulatory oversight agency for our services outside of the United States and Canada,” they concluded.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner’s Office has recently audited Facebook to see whether the company has taken to heart the “best practice” recommendations for user data protection given by the Office following an initial audit back in December 2011, and is satisfied with the progress.

For additional screenshots of the new sign-up process, go here.