The privacy advocates who initially prepared a federal complaint against Facebook are now applauding the service's shift in strategy.

"It's not often that companies respond quickly, and Facebook has," says , executive director of the . "We support the effort to establish a 'principles' and also a 'statement of rights and responsibilities.' We look forward to the opportunity for users to participate in those discussions."

The next question, Rotenberg says, is what it will take to achieve the lofty goals Facebook has accepted.

"I think that the privacy concerns are going to be an ongoing question with Facebook, and the key concern will continue to be that Facebook users really need to own and control their information," he says. "I was pleased that Mark Zuckerberg said that today, and he's said it before -- but making that work is going to be a challenge."

If that challenge can be met, EPIC believes the next big hurdle will be convincing other companies to follow suit -- companies such as Google, for example, which Rotenberg says has been far less "responsive" . Still, Thursday's step is being seen as a promising sign of progress that could reach further than any single network's virtual walls.