Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says many -- but not all -- of her concerns about Facebook have been addressed by recent modifications to the popular website.
"The changes Facebook has put in place in response to concerns we raised as part of our investigation last year are reasonable and meet the expectations set out under Canadian privacy law," Stoddart said in a statement released on Wednesday.
She investigated Facebook in 2009 in response to a complaint from the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic and raised a number of concerns with the website.
"A major concern during our investigation was that third-party developers of games and other applications on the site had virtually unrestricted access to Facebook users' personal information," she said.
The final report from the 13-month investigation concluded that Facebook breached Canadian law by keeping users' personal information indefinitely -- even after members deactivate their accounts.
Last August, the website agreed to address Stoddart's concerns within a year, and on Wednesday the commissioner confirmed that Facebook had "rolled out a permissions model that is a vast improvement."
Applications on the social-networking site are now obligated to tell users about the types of information they need, and are required to obtain approval to use their information. They can only access user information that they request.
"We're also pleased that Facebook has developed simplified privacy settings and has implemented a tool that allows users to apply a privacy setting to each photo or comment they post," Stoddart said.
However, she said she remains concerned that the site hasn't adequately increased oversight of application developers or taught them about what their duties are when it comes to privacy.
Stoddart also cautioned Facebook against boosting the number of user-information categories that it makes publicly available on the Internet.
According to The Globe and Mail, she is looking into the use of the site's "Like" button, which is becoming more popular among users.
"Facebook is constantly evolving and we are actively following the changes there," Stoddart said. "We will take action if we feel there are potential new violations."
The California-based website has around 12 million users in Canada and 250 million around the world. It's billed as a way to keep in touch with friends and family by posting messages and photos on a personal web page.
Facebook's founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has said he believes the Internet should be a social medium for users "by default."
With files from The Canadian Press
