In a ruling that will likely influence Facebook's global operations, Jennifer Stoddart says she's “very pleased” with the way Facebook handled her worries.

She had complained that the company held on to personal information indefinitely - even after people closed their accounts.

The company also shared users' information with almost one million third-party developers of Facebook applications.

The company has now agreed to make technological changes to deal with third-party access.

It will also take steps to make it clear to users that there's a difference between deleting an account and deactivating it.

Stoddart garnered global attention this summer when Canada became the first country to legally examine Facebook's privacy provisions.

About 12 million Canadians have Facebook accounts.