Emma Rowley Social networking site Facebook was yesterday criticised for changes to its privacy settings that it said would allow users to share more.

Emma Rowley

Social networking site Facebook was yesterday criticised for changes to its privacy settings that it said would allow users to share more.

The company said its current system, under which users have specific controls over individual features, was no longer fit for purpose.

Facebook chief privacy officer Chris Kelly said: "The compounding effect of more and more settings has made controlling privacy on Facebook too complicated."

The site will "simplify" settings by putting them all on the same page and making sure the privacy options for different features are always the same, he said.

However the moves provoked concerns because the settings listed as recommended disclose much of the user's information to strangers.

"I'm worried about the recommended settings because as far I can see it's actually sharing quite a lot of information with quite a few people," said Tom Royal, deputy editor of Computeractive magazine.

"We would very much recommend people choose the "limited" option instead."