For the second time this year, Facebook has changed its policy after users voiced concerns over privacy issues.
Most recently, the social-networking Web site made it easier for users to permanently delete their accounts this month.
The change came after The New York Times published an article saying it was impossible to completely remove accounts from Facebook, followed by widespread user complaints.
Though most Penn students said they do not plan on deleting their accounts in the near future, they also said having the option is important.
Wharton sophomore Joanna Wu said she is unlikely to remove her Facebook account, but added that "it is good to have the option of deleting it because some employers check your information on Facebook before hiring."
Previously, Facebook only offered a deactivation option, in which a user's profile became inaccessible to others on Facebook, but the account, including friends, photographs and interests, was saved on the Web site's server.
But now, users can fill out a form requesting that their profile be deleted altogether. If a user deletes his or her profile, all personal information is removed from Facebook servers.
Some say the move is an important change in allowing users to manage their online image.
All Web sites and social networks should "allow individuals to actively control their information on the Web fully, without limitation," Paul Pennelli, senior director of marketing and partnerships at ReputationDefender, a firm that manages clients' online reputations, wrote in an e-mail.
Since Facebook has allowed users to completely remove their profiles from the site, some have taken steps to inform others about that option.
The Facebook group "How to permanently delete your Facebook account" has 12,040 members and is growing daily. The group complains that the process to delete an account is still too complicated.
Facebook says it is trying to improve the process.
"We are working to better explain the simple deactivation process and to ease the deletion process for those who want their personal information removed from our servers," Brandee Barker, director of corporate communications for Facebook, wrote in an e-mail.
Following similar complaints about privacy earlier this year, Facebook reformed Beacon - an advertising program that shares user purchases from partner businesses - after members' private online gift purchases were publicly displayed on the Facebook News Feed.
The program is now an optional application.
According to Facebook's privacy policy, the company is authorized to use and distribute any posted user content, but many users seem unaware of this privacy setting.
"That's pretty creepy," said Nursing freshman Hannah Weiss, who added that, after the negative feedback to the Beacon program, she does not think Facebook will disregard user privacy.
"I guess they have the right to distribute our information, but I don't think they would use that right," Weiss said. "It would cost them."
