New Zealanders unhappy with changes to Facebook's privacy settings can share their concerns with the Privacy Commissioner.
Recent changes to the social networking site included an "Instant Personalisation Pilot Programme" which shared personal information with external websites to tailor browsing experiences.
Other applications also shared information with third parties, while information could also be shared by Facebook friends.
Users were not alerted to added settings, which were made public by default, and had to go through them line-by-line to control their privacy settings, Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff said.
The New York Times reported that to opt out of full disclosure of most information, it was necessary to click through more than 50 privacy buttons, and a total of more than 170 privacy options.
The Privacy Commission was liaising with overseas privacy regulators about Facebook's privacy issues, Ms Shroff said.
Ms Shroff recommended New Zealanders unsure about their privacy settings to set all Facebook settings to 'private' and then choose what they want to open up.
New Zealanders concerned about Facebook could share their views with the Privacy Commission via enquiries@privacy.org.nz or with Facebook at www.facebook.com/fbsitegovernance.
The results of a Privacy Commission survey released earlier this month indicated 83 percent of New Zealanders were concerned about the security of their personal information on the internet.
Fewer than half of respondents, 43 percent, said they used a social networking website like Facebook, but that was up from 32 percent in June last year, and 14 percent in August 2007.
The number of social networking users who believed the sites were mainly private spaces where they shared information with their friends was surprisingly high, at 57 percent.
More than half of the respondents who used social networking websites said they were concerned about what the sites used their personal information for and 55 percent said they were uncomfortable with search engines and websites tracking their internet use to deliver targeted advertising.
