TechBytes: Facebook's Privacy Changes

May 27, 2010— -- Facebook has simplified its privacy settings. The social networking site unveiled the changes Wednesday, responding to overwhelming criticism from members, privacy advocates and lawmakers. The new settings give members three simple choices, allowing them to decide whether their information is visible to only friends, friends of friends, or everyone on the internet. They will be applied retroactively to everything users have already published. Facebook is also making it easier to turn off its controversial new "instant personalization" feature, which allows partner sites to access personal data. The New York Times' Nick Bilton says the jury is still out on these changes.

"This new settings page is much simpler than the one in the past. In the past, there was up to 50 different options with 170 different sub-options that users had to go through to become private on the website," Bilton said. "It's gonna be interesting to see how Facebook users react to these new settings and whether or not it will quell the fears of privacy on the website." The new settings will be rolling out in the coming days and weeks.

Yahoo is trying to steal some of Facebook's thunder. It's teaming up with the fast-growing game-maker Zynga, the company behind hits like Farmville, Mafia Wars and Fishville. Those games are mainly available on Facebook now, but will be on Yahoo within the next few months.

Amazon has resolved its pricing dispute with publisher Penguin. The deal means all of Penguin's electronic books will be available on the Kindle again. Penguin stopped offering its new titles in digital format at the beginning of April. About 150 books were affected.

A British scientist says he's the first person in the world to become infected with a computer virus. Mark Gasson infected a computer chip and then inserted into his hand. The chip allows him to pass through security doors and activate his cell phone. He says his experiment proves the potential danger of high-tech medical devices, such as pacemakers. As they become more sophisticated, they could be targeted by hackers.