Privacy Matters… or does it?

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

"You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.“ - Sun Microsystems' CEO Scott McNealy (1999)

Hullabaloo

What is privacy?• Historical concept - An objective, legitimate or reasonable

expectation of privacy is an expectation of privacy generally recognized by society.

• Modern Tort law defining invasion of privacy – – Intrusion of solitude: physical or electronic intrusion into

one's private quarters.– Public disclosure of private facts: the dissemination of

truthful private information which a reasonable person would find objectionable

Privacy is dead?• “People have really gotten comfortable not

only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time.” – Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg – 2010– Is there a generational gap with the expectation

of privacy online?

Challenge• Privacy = control of dissemination of

information• Challenge = dramatic increase is amount of

personal data– Easy storage and tracking of information by

systems– Difficult storage and tracking by individuals

Facebook Privacy Map

Our privacy survey• 1,000 online respondents

– Age: 13 - 20 (200)– Age: 21 - 29 (200)– Age: 30 - 39 (200)– Age: 40 - 54 (200)– Age: 55 + (200)

Do you feel that too much of your private information is shared online?

68.45%

31.55%Yes

No

Generation Gap

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

13-20 21-29 30-39 40-54 55+

Male

Female

How concerned are you about your online privacy?

*Scalar Question 1 – 7 ranking

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

13-20 21-29 30-39 40-54 55+

Not concerned

Very Concerned

How concerned are you that the following data is collected about you during normal internet use?

Data Point Surfing Improve Search 13-20Credit card information (e.g. stored info for future purchases) 81.0% 68.6% 53.0%Telephone number 57.8% 50.8% 38.1%Location 52.6% 42.7% 37.6%Address 45.1% 38.7% 33.7%Purchase behavior (e.g. your last Amazon purchase) 42.8% 39.5% 35.9%Search behavior (e.g. your last Google search) 36.8% 36.5% 28.7%E-mail address 33.8% 37.6% 28.2%Date of birth 28.8% 29.3% 17.1%Name 19.4% 24.9% 19.9%Age 15.8% 20.1% 18.8%Political party affi liation 15.5% 21.2% 12.7%Gender 12.8% 18.1% 14.9%Education level 12.3% 19.4% 13.8%

How comfortable are you sharing each of the following data points?

Data Point SharingGender 46.4%Name 43.9%Education level 41.2%Political party affi liation 40.0%Age 37.6%Date of birth 22.3%Address 20.6%Purchase behavior (e.g. your last Amazon purchase) 17.2%Search behavior (e.g. your last Google search) 17.1%E-mail address 17.0%Location 12.4%Telephone number 8.7%Credit card information (e.g. stored info for future purchases) 5.7%

How comfortable are you sharing your personal information with the following groups?

Overall 13-20 21-29 30-39 40-54 55+Family 76.9% 76.2% 79.1% 72.7% 73.8% 82.6%Friends 57.7% 63.0% 66.5% 46.5% 48.6% 63.7%Retailers 9.4% 14.4% 11.5% 7.5% 6.0% 7.9%Government (Federal, State, Local) 16.8% 22.8% 22.2% 15.5% 9.7% 13.9%Banks and other financial institutions 20.4% 20.4% 24.1% 20.9% 16.9% 19.5%Market Research firms 10.6% 14.4% 11.5% 10.2% 7.1% 10.0%Social networking sites 9.9% 17.1% 11.5% 11.2% 4.9% 4.7%

ConclusionThe expectation of privacy is evolving

The challenge will be to balance generational views on privacy and sharing