Privacy advocates take Facebook gripe to US Federal Trade Commission

PRIVACY advocates are calling on the US Federal Trade Commission to make Facebook undo recent changes made to privacy controls on the world's leading online social network.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) joined with the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD) and several other organizations in a complaint accusing Facebook of violating US consumer protection law.

"More than 100 million people in the United States subscribe to the Facebook service," said EPIC director Marc Rotenberg.

"The company should not be allowed to turn down the privacy dial on so many American consumers."

Facebook last week began calling on users to get a better grip on their online privacy by dictating who sees what in online profiles.

All of Facebook's more than 350 million members are required to refine settings with a new software tool that lets them specify who gets to be privy to each photo, video, update or other piece of content uploaded to the website.