Facebook asks users to vote on proposed data policy changes

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Bermuda’s election is still days away, but already, members of a much larger, more virtual nation are hitting the polls.

Facebook users have five more days to cast their ballot in the “Facebook Site Governance Vote”.

The social network proposed changes to its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (DDR) and Data Use Policy late last month. Now Facebook has opened its online polls allowing its more than one billion users to vote on whether they would like to see the changes made, or for things to stay the same.

Here are the changes Facebook is proposing:

- Doing away with user voting. Facebook has been letting its users vote on the changes it makes, but there’s just one problem: voter apathy. During a vote in June, only 342,632 people participated — a tiny fraction of Facebook’s more than one-billion strong user base. It wasn’t enough to hit Facebook’s 30 percent voter participation requirement to make the vote binding. So, the company is now proposing putting an end to voting and instead, allow users to provide feedback by submitting questions to the company’s chief privacy officer and host webcasts to address comments and concerns.

- Sharing user data. Facebook wants to add a clause to its dada use policy that will allow it to share information with affiliates (ie other companies Facebook owns like Instagram). The move, similar to recent moves by Google, would allow Facebook to build unified profiles of its users that include people’s personal data from its social network and from Instagram.

- Changing who can message you. Facebook has proposed changing your ability to block people from sending you private messages. The changes could make it easier for advertisers and people who are not your friends to message you. That’s not to say Facebook is completely taking away your ability to block someone from harassing you in a private message. The company says you will still be able to block senders and manage which messages you see in your inbox.

Facebook will also change how they refer to certain products and clarify exactly who can see what on users’ timelines.

More than 30 percent of Facebook’s members need to vote in favour of retaining their voting rights for the site to continue the practice, the company said on its website. If that threshold isn’t met, Facebook said, the vote would be non-binding.

A third-party service provider’s application will facilitate the voting, and an independent auditor will examine the tabulation. Voting will end on Monday, December 10 at 4pm Bermuda time.

If you want to read more about the proposed changes to Facebook’s policy, there’s a handy redlined version that can be found here: facebook.com/legal/dupredline.

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