News: Facebook privacy update

Facebook  has revamped the way its users share information with third-party applications and Web sites in an effort to make the process easier, the company said Wednesday.

With the changes, a new permissions box will pop up whenever a Facebook user installs a new application or first logs into an external Web site through their Facebook account, wrote Bret Taylor, the social-networking site's CTO, in a blog post.

About 550,000 applications work within Facebook and about 1 million Web sites are integrated with the site, Facebook said.

"In order for these applications and Web sites to provide social and customized experiences, they need to know a little bit about you," Taylor wrote. "We understand, however, that it's important you also have control over what you're sharing."

With the new authorization process, applications will have access to the public parts of Facebook users' profiles by default. To access the private parts of profiles, the applications will have to ask for permission, Taylor said.

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