Foursquare is making two major changes to its privacy policy, but not without giving its users ample notice.
The check-in service sent an e-mail to its users, informing them the
firm is altering its privacy policy. As of Jan. 28, 2013, the service
will show only users’ full names, replacing it current practice of
allowing a mix of full names and first name, last initial.
“If you search for a friend in Foursquare, we show their full name in
the results, but when you click through to their profile page you don’t
see their last name,” Foursquare said in its e-mail.
“In the original versions of Foursquare, these distinctions made
sense. But we get e-mails every day saying that it’s now confusing. So,
with this change, full names are going to be public. As always, you can
alter your ‘full name’ on Foursquare…”
The second change will enable businesses to see an extended list of
customers who have checked in on their companies. Foursquare currently
permits businesses to see only the past three hours’ worth of check-ins.
“This is great for helping store owners identify their customers and
give them more personal service or offers,” the e-mail reads. “But a lot
of businesses only have time to log in at the end of the day to look at
it. So, with this change, we’re going to be showing them more of those
recent check-ins, instead of just three hours worth.”
Users who do not want businesses to see when they check in should uncheck the box under location information.
Foursquare has also made available to users an easy-to-understand policy document dubbed Privacy 101.
It appears Foursquare did not wish to follow in Instagram’s footsteps, choosing to allow its users to opt out of the changes.
The photo sharing app, which is owned by Facebook, recently suffered
severe user backlash after new privacy policies seemed to accord the
service the right to sell users’ photographs without informing or
reimbursing the photographer.
Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom did some quick backtracking on the
proposed policy changes — within two days Systrom not only apologized
but reverted to the old terms of use.
Post from: SiteProNews
Foursquare Tells Users Policy Changes on Way
