Foursquare has notified its users that privacy policy changes will swing into effect next month, making more user data more public.

Foursquare checkins used to show a user's first name and last initial, but beginning January 28, 2013, checkins will publicly display a user's full name.

Additionally, venue owners wanting to take a closer look at checkins will have access to "more of those recent check-ins, instead of just three hours worth." There's no specification on how far back they'll be able to look.

Showing people's full names is bound to stir up some grumbling among the user base, but FourSquare points out that there's an easy fix if you don't like it – you can change your name in your account settings.