It’s never easy when it comes to privacy terms, and Facebook had some serious explaining to do, after changing its terms of service policy and getting protesters all lined up for specific details on how this will affect users’ privacy.

 

Writing on the company’s official blog, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced they have decided to turn back to the old terms of service, until all things are cleared, and they find a way of solving the issues people have raised.

 

What the changed policy seemed to do was grant Facebook access to user content more than ever. Specifically, Facebook had permanent rights over user content, even if the user deleted or closed an account. This, privacy advocates say, would have granted Facebook too broader access to user information.

 

This forced Facebook to backtrack its decision to change the terms, and furthermore, it also forced them to make a decision on how the new terms of service will look like, namely by using user feedback in creating them.

 

In addition to that, Zuckerberg wrote, the new principles will be written clearly in language everyone can understand. This, however, will take a little bit of time, he said, so expect to see them only in a couple of weeks or so.

 

The next version, he said, will be a substantial revision of the terms. Hopefully, I say, it will be less controversial, and more into the user’s rights. After all, it’s in Facebook’s best interest develop terms that are clear for all its 175 million users.