Visual Evolution of Privacy on Facebook

Facebook continues to receive criticism from all directions over it's ever-changing privacy settings. Today the EU data protection organization wrote the company saying its recent privacy changes are "unacceptable." Congressmen, consumer groups, and other privacy watchdogs have all pressed the company to back off the recent changes as well.

As seen on the link below, the company has made quite drastic changes in its privacy policy over the last five years:

http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/

I'm sure other internet properties are taking note of how not to manage user privacy settings. A similar example of a company moving away from a user-friendly privacy policy so drastically is difficult to find. While the monetization of one's internet property is important, Facebook should reconsider how much credibility it is losing. I'm curious how much value Facebook would be foregoing by using an opt-in policy rather than an opt-out one with limited consumer notification?

I will continue to enjoy using Facebook to stay connected with friends, but at what point will I shun the service over their perceived disregard to secure my data? Other users have most likely been driven away by the privacy shifts. In fact, "delete my facebook account" is one of the top Google search suggestions when searching for "how do I."