Computer-Mediated Communication

Computer-Mediated Communication Social Privacy in a Networked World

Quick Review • Personal disclosure is a fundamental human activity • Disclosure in CMCs is a reflection of this activity • What looks like a “Privacy Paradox” can be unpacked into more nuance that contextualizes disclosure • Disclosure is motivated by: • Different aspects of privacy (psych, social, info) • The need/desire to build social capital • Lack of privacy “literacy” (people are unaware of info gathering by CMC platforms, or they don’t care) Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Today: Implications of Disclosure • Social Consequences • Turbulence: interpersonal consequences, such as embarrassment, loss of friendship, loss of privacy • Objective harms: loss of job, discrimination, reputational harms http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2009/12/10/either-mark-zuckerberg-got-a-whole-lot-less-private-or-facebooks-ceo-doesnt-understand-the-companys-new-privacy-settings/#7f3f4b721c61 Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

What’s happening on the ground? Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Silent Listeners (Stutzman et al.) • Facebook users over time became more privacy seeking by progressively limiting data shared publicly with strangers • Facebook’s 2009 changes reversed this • amount of info users revealed to connected friends increased, as well as to third party apps; often occurred w/o explicit consent or awareness; the network remains an “imagined” community that does not map to actual audiences Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Facebook privacy settings circa Dec 2009 Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Facebook privacy settings circa July 2010 Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

http://mattmckeon.com/facebook-privacy/ Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Implications of “Silent Listeners” • How much is our expectation of privacy bound to the platform we are using? • “Power of the environment in affecting individual choices: the entity that controls the structure . . . Ultimately remains able to affect how actors make choices in that environment.” • Privacy by overexposure? • How much of this study is just specific to FB? Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Boundary Management • Litt & Hargittai’s paper • Incorporates the work of Sandra Petronio (using an updated version of Altman’s theory: Communication Privacy Management) • Privacy == individuals’ information boundary (rule) management w/r/t others • Turbulence == breakdown in expectations when personal info goes beyond a person’s desired boundaries Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Key findings • Skill is a key concern in Hargittai’s work – found those with more Internet skills less likely to experience negative outcomes • Self monitoring: “ability & motivation to pick up on social cues and modify their self-presentations” • Higher self-monitoring skills & privacy behaviors == more turbulence • Context collapse, or perceived vs. actual privacy misaligned, also control paradox • Higher self monitors might be more sensitive, more aware negatives exist, better at ID’ing it, not necessarily more likely to experience • Prior negative experiences may also contribute • While we can cause our own turbulence, more often generated by what others share about us – how do we design for this? Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Misplaced Confidences – Control Paradox • Individuals’ perceived control over release and access of private info increases willingness to disclose • Questions assumptions about rational, informed choice • Part of a larger body of research by Acquisti questioning decision-making models; role of heuristics • Posits that privacy preferences are contextual and subject to manipulation Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Design solutions? • Better (re)designed privacy controls • Privacy “nudges” • Predictive privacy preferences • Incorporating longitudinal aspects • How do we design for social privacy? Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Cheshire & King - CMC i216 Fall 2016

Computer-Mediated Communication