USA: Facebook launches new privacy controls for 350m users.

Text of press release by California-based social networking website Facebook on 9 December; subheadings as published

Setting a new standard in user control, Facebook announced today that it is calling on its more than 350 million users to review and update their privacy settings - a first among major Internet services. In addition, Facebook will be rolling out easy-to-use tools to empower people to personalize control over their information - based on what the content is, why they are sharing it, when, and the audience they seek to reach.

"Facebook is transforming the world's ability to control its information online by empowering more than 350 million people to personalize the audience for each piece of content they share," said Elliot Schrage, Vice President of Communications, Public Policy and Marketing. "We've always designed Facebook to enable people to control what information they share with whom - it's the reason our service continues to attract such a broad and diverse group of users from around the world. We're proud of the latest evolution we're announcing today and we will continue to innovate to serve users' changing needs."

The tools launching …