Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook.Eric Risberg/The Associated Press
Facebook's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has it all wrong.
"Mark Zuckerberg is younger than me," Anne Toth, the California-based Chief Privacy Officer of search engine giant Yahoo Inc., says with an exasperated shrug during an interview. "Just because a CEO says something, doesn't mean he is going to be right."
What Ms. Toth is lamenting is the privacy policies of Facebook's 25-year-old founder. The social media site found itself the subject of criticism this week from Canada's Privacy Commissioner and four U.S. senators, who complained that a recent set of innovations improperly exposed the Internet habits and personal opinions of users. A New York Times reporter fuelled the controversy when he posted a quote on Twitter from an unnamed Facebook employee saying Mr. Zuckerberg, "doesn't believe" in privacy.
That type of attitude, Ms. Toth said, is putting Internet companies in harm's way with regulators and customers who are agitating for improved privacy protections. If the industry doesn't work together to simplify and standardize website privacy settings, she warns regulators are going to start imposing harsher rules.
She said the global Internet community "has been put on notice," after 10 European and Canadian privacy regulators spoke out in Washington last week against the lax privacy policies of Google Inc. and other companies.
"The message I got loud and clear is that privacy cannot be an afterthought." she said.
Ms. Toth was the only executive from a major international Web company to attend privacy consultations in Toronto yesterday with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
David Vladeck, director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission told the session that it plans to introduce rules this summer that will give consumers more control over the use of their data on websites. The United States does not have a standalone privacy regulator, leaving the Federal Trade Commission to review consumer complaints.
Yahoo's Ms. Toth said the search engine has been enhancing privacy controls since 2008 when it moved into the business of placing Internet ads on behalf of third party ad networks. The search engine now offers users an "Ad Interest Manager" service that allows them to block the transfer of personal information to outsiders. The company also allows users of its social media site to block the transfer of data when the click links to other sites.
Although some Internet companies fear that giving consumers enhanced control "will destroy our business," she said Yahoo believes that improved privacy safeguards will give it a long-term strategic advantage.
"If customers are uncomfortable, they are just a click away from leaving us. We have every incentive in the world to keeping customers coming back."