Facebook has agreed to settle charges of privacy violations with the Federal Trade Commission. As part of the settlement, the social networking giant will submit to periodic independent privacy audits for the next 20 years. The company has also agreed to ask users for permission before changing the way their data is released. The agreement stems from FTC charges that Facebook has reneged on privacy promises it made to its users over the years -- so much so that at times its actions have threatened the "health and safety" of the users.
Attribution: CNET, ECTNews and TechCrunch.