Foursquare has announced changes to its privacy policy, displaying users whole names and giving businesses more customer data by default, though the check-in service is keen to point out that extra privacy can be restored with a few settings tweaks. Announced in an email to registered users over the weekend, the tweaks come alongside an amended Privacy 101 document that attempts to reduce confusion of the sort that gave Instagram such headaches earlier this month.

According to Foursquare, the key changes which will come into effect on January 28 2013 are to how accessible your data is, both publicly visible and to businesses you check into. Whereas currently a mixture of full names and first names and last initials are used, the new default will be to show first and last names consistently; that, the company says, is to address complaints that the existing approach is “confusing” and makes finding the right person in search results tricky.

As for businesses, the amount of data they see on each customer will not change, but they will get data for a longer period. Currently, Foursquare shows check-in activity for the most recent three hour period; that’s being increased to cater to those businesses who might sift through the results less frequently than that:

“Currently, a business using Foursquare (like your corner coffee shop) can see the customers who have checked in in the last three hours (in addition to the most recent and their most loyal visitors). This is great for helping store owners identify their customers and give them more personal service or offers. But a lot of businesses only have time to log in at the end of the day to look at it. So, with this change, we’re going to be showing them more of those recent check-ins, instead of just three hours worth” Foursquare

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Read also:

Foursquare to display full user names, share more data with local businesses (Engadget)

Foursquare to show users' full names, share more data (CNET)

Foursquare Changes Up its Privacy Policy (The Right Way) (PC Magazine)

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