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d LONDON: Almost half of Facebook users in Britain can't keep up with the frequent changes to social networking sites' privacy and security settings, a new survey has revealed.
In the last 18 months, Facebook has changed its privacy policies eight times, including changes that automatically tell people where you are, and a change that let third parties access users' telephone numbers and addresses.
Most of the changes often happen with no warning, and little explanation.
A survey conducted by Which Computing that covered 953 users, revealed that 48 of users agreed they can't keep up with the number of changes Facebook has made to its data security settings.
Sixty per cent of the users surveyed said that they felt worried about the fact that people who are not in their friend list can access information about them on Facebook.
The survey also pointed out real computer-security concerns about the site's cavalier attitude to privacy, the Daily Mail reports.
Nineteen per cent of users said that they had never changed their privacy settings.
This potentially leaves open information such as phone numbers, addresses and email addresses, which could be used in identity theft.
Meanwhile, Facebook has said that its changes are in response to user demands.
"All of our changes have been designed to give people more control over what they share and make it easier for them to understand who can see their content across Facebook," a spokesman for the company said.
