In their last week letter to the Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, four Senators - Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska; and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn. – have urged the popular social networking site to take “swift and productive steps to alleviate the (privacy) concerns of its users.”

In their letter, the senators said that Facebook – boasting almost 400 million users – should simplify the privacy protection mechanism for its users, more so as the site has introduced newer avenues for them to share their personal information data as well as their specific interests.

Noting that Facebook’s “opt out” option for privacy settings, for users not wanting to be a part of the site’s expansion, should actually be an “opt in” option, with getting users’ consent – for sharing of their data with third-party Websites - being obligatory for Facebook; Schumer said that Facebook has apparently “assumed all their users want their information to be given far and wide, which is a false assumption.”

Furthermore, Schumer has also urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to review Facebook’s latest moves – essentially aimed at increasing its social-networking presence on the Web - and to issue the necessary guiding principles so as to make it mandatory for all social media firms to protect their privacy rights of their users.