In a press conference from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) announcing that an agreement with Facebook had been reached, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart thanked the company for its cooperation throughout the 14-month investigation.

"I am very pleased to be able to tell you that -- following further discussions with Facebook -- the company has now agreed to make several changes which address the issues uncovered during our investigation," said Stoddart.

Facebook's plans to adapt its privacy policies and practices to comply with Canadian federal privacy law are scheduled to take place over the next 12 months. "With these changes, Facebook could show other online companies that you can have an incredibly successful online company that's responsible and respectful of privacy rights," said Stoddart.

The question-and-answer period that followed revealed another major social networking site may already be following suit. "I'm very happy to say that another major networking site has also contacted us and will be coming to our office to be meeting very soon to discuss compliance with Canadian law," said Stoddart.

Facebook expects to set an example for other online companies. "We truly feel these improvements to the Facebook platform will bring a new privacy standard to the social Web, the interaction with social applications online and we're confident our users and developers will see the benefits," said Dave Morin, senior platform manager, in Facebook's press conference following the one held by the OPC.