Facebook is nearing a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to let users of the social network opt-in to its sharing privacy settings, rather than opting out.

What this would mean is that people using Facebook would not be sharing any content submitted to the social network with anyone by default. They would need to check off a particular setting in order to make something 'Public'.

News of the proposed deal was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook would be required to submit privacy audits for the next twenty years, similar to the concession made by Google when it was investigated by the FTC back in March. The Journal also says that if the settlement gets approved by the FTC's commissioners, Facebook would need to get explicit consent from its 800 million users before changing its privacy settings.

Read more: http://www.ktvq.com/news/facebook-said-ready-to-wave-white-flag-on-privacy/