[IP] Facebook's Privacy Backlash
Begin forwarded message:
From: Alessandro Acquisti <acquisti@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 7, 2006 2:11:41 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [IP] Facebook's Privacy Backlash
Dave -
While the Facebook offers quite granular privacy controls (I am not
referring to the latest development), their default settings are very
permeable. In studies Ralph Gross and I have been doing, we show that
a very
small portion of Facebook users at CMU ever alters those settings. One
reason is common to other HCI studies - people often don't change a
system's
default values. Other reasons are related to peer pressure, herding
behavior, and deliberate "signaling." Another reason lies in the fact
that
online social networks (such as the FB) are "imagined" communities:
their
membership, breach, and scope often go well beyond what most of their
users
perceive and trust.
The dichotomy between perception and reality is particularly marked
for the
Facebook because its networks are ostensibly linked to geographically
well-defined and contained communities (college campuses). In reality,
external access to those networks is quite easy (and, anecdotally,
common).
This is not completely unintentional. For many online social
networks, the
business model relies on limited privacy and limited security: as
economic
network goods, their value increases with the number of members (hence
registration and access must be kept easy - no https or complex identity
validation procedures), and with the amount of information and potential
points of contacts between members (hence abundant information
revelation is
encouraged through default settings and design strategies). There is an
incentive to push that envelope towards less and less privacy - until
a sore
spot is hit, members' reaction is awakened, and the business risks of
that
strategy materialize. Like what happened this week with the Facebook.
BTW - Fred Stutzman (UNC) and danah boyd (UCB) are also doing
research on
these topics. Some results of our own studies can be found here:
http://ralphgross.com/Publications/acquisti-gross-facebook-privacy-
PET.pdf
http://ralphgross.com/Publications/privacy-facebook-gross-acquisti.pdf
best,
-alessandro
-----------------------
Alessandro Acquisti
Heinz School, Carnegie Mellon University
http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/~acquisti/research.htm
-----------------------
-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber [mailto:dave@xxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 9:46 AM
To: ip@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [IP] Facebook's Privacy Backlash
Begin forwarded message:
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: September 6, 2006 11:27:59 PM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: lauren@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Facebook's Privacy Backlash
Dave,
Apparently many student "Facebook" users have rebelled against a new
"timestamped" feed that details minute by minute actions by others.
See: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1532225,00.html
What's particularly interesting about this isn't so much the utter
cluelessness and carelessness of privacy-invasive features without
acceptable flexibility in user controls, but rather the insight
we gain into how much privacy invasion such users will accept before
they finally say "enough is enough."
Perhaps more students are finally starting to see the privacy light
at the end of the tunnel, despite the marketing hype blasting at
them from all sides on a virtual 24/7 basis. Of course, unless
students also ultimately vote with their pocketbooks and wallets, the
butchers of privacy -- wherever they may be -- will still win
in the end.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@xxxxxxxxxx or lauren@xxxxxxxx
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
- International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
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