SNS and 3rd Party Applications Privacy Policies and their Construction of Privacy Concerns

In this paper we use template analysis to study the content of privacy policies both of online social networks as well as 3rd party application providers. After analysing and prioritising the topics mentioned in these policies, we discuss potential problems, limitations of privacy policies, and the responsibilities they assign to various stakeholders. These findings will, in future work serve as stakeholder input for aligning social networking sites’ privacy definitions, concerns, and practices

Web Social Media Privacy Preferences and Perception

The proliferation of social media websites has led to concerns over privacy breaches, as these sites have access to users' sensitive and personal data. This study sought to investigate users' perceptions and concerns for social media websites, with the aim of developing a system that meets their requirements. To achieve this, a questionnaire was designed for privacy permissions on eight popular social media websites, and 425 completed answers were analyzed. The results revealed that users' concerns were diverse and differed across different social media platforms. Gender, age, education level, and IT proficiency were found to be weakly correlated with privacy concerns. Women expressed greater concerns than men, particularly for Twitter and Snapchat, while older users expressed greater levels of concern for Snapchat and Instagram. As education levels increased, users tended to express greater levels of concern, especially on WhatsApp and Snapchat. Furthermore, this study identified four hierarchical clusters of users based on their preferences and concerns regarding permission privacy for social media websites. The results revealed that the majority of participants (214 users) were highly concerned about privacy on social media, indicating that they were aware of the potential risks associated with sharing personal information online which represents the third cluster. The first and fourth clusters were the most unconcerned groups regarding permission privacy, consisting of a small number of users. The second cluster, comprising 124 participants, had an average score of 1.6, indicating that they were the second most concerned about privacy. Overall, the findings of this study could be useful for social media platforms in developing privacy policies and settings that align with users' concerns and preferences

Home quarantined: Privacy at risk in technologically-oriented learning amidst COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 triggers technologically-oriented learning and is critical in ensuring that education continues after schools close physically. The internet has a plethora of learning opportunities but may invite privacy risks to users. Using descriptive-comparative research design, the study determined the contents and artifacts exchanged in online portals, the extent of use of social media sites, teaching-learning platforms, and educational websites. The sample was 341 college students of a family-owned private higher education institution. Finally, the difference in online privacy risk management practices was determined when grouped by selected demographic variables. Using means, t-test, and ANOVA, findings from an online survey showed that personal information is shared the most in online portals. For online learning, students heavily relied on Facebook, Microsoft Teams, and Google. To protect their privacy, respondents from all classes follow online management practices. Generally, the respondents' good affordances and decorum in the online media imply that they have good behavior and value creation. Still, a comprehensive strategy to safeguard data among learners in the utilization of online productivity platforms is a must

Understanding privacy leakage concerns in Facebook: A longitudinal case study

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel UniversityThis thesis focuses on examining users’ perceptions of privacy leakage in Facebook – the world’s largest and most popular social network site (SNS). The global popularity of this SNS offers a hugely tempting resource for organisations engaged in online business. The personal data willingly shared between online friends’ networks intuitively appears to be a natural extension of current advertising strategies such as word-of-mouth and viral marketing. Therefore organisations are increasingly adopting innovative ways to exploit the detail-rich personal data of SNS users for business marketing. However, commercial use of such personal information has provoked outrage amongst Facebook users and has radically highlighted the issue of privacy leakage. To date, little is known about how SNS users perceive such leakage of privacy. So a greater understanding of the form and nature of SNS users’ concerns about privacy leakage would contribute to the current literature as well as help to formulate best practice guidelines for organisations. Given the fluid, context-dependent and temporal nature of privacy, a longitudinal case study representing the launch of Facebook’s social Ads programme was conducted to investigate the phenomenon of privacy leakage within its real-life setting. A qualitative user blogs commentary was collected between November 2007 and December 2010 during the two-stage launch of the social Ads programme. Grounded theory data analysis procedures were used to analyse users’ blog postings. The resulting taxonomy shows that business integrity, user control, transparency, data protection breaches, automatic information broadcast and information leak are the core privacy leakage concerns of Facebook users. Privacy leakage concerns suggest three limits, or levels: organisational, user and legal, which provide the basis to understanding the nature and scope of the exploitation of SNS users’ data for commercial purposes. The case study reported herein is novel, as existing empirical research has not identified and analysed privacy leakage concerns of Facebook users

Network e-Volution

Modern society is a network society permeated by information technology (IT). As a result of innovations in IT, enormous amounts of information can be communicated to a larger number of recipients faster than ever before. The evolution of networks is heavily influenced by the extensive use of IT, which has enabled co-evolving advanced quantitative and qualitative forms of networking. Although several networks have been formed with the aim to reduce or deal with uncertainty through faster and broader access to information, it is in fact IT that has created new kinds of uncertainty. For instance, although digital information integration in supply chains has made production planning more robust, it has at the same time intensified mutual dependencies, thereby actually increasing the level of uncertainty. The aim of this working paper is to investigate the aspects of evolving networks and uncertainty in networks at the cutting edges of different types of networks and from the perspective of different layers defining these networks

The Mechanisms of Interpersonal Privacy in Social Networking Websites: A Study of Subconscious Processes, Social Network Analysis, and Fear of Social Exclusion

With increasing usage of Social networking sites like Facebook there is a need to study privacy. Previous research has placed more emphasis on outcome-oriented contexts, such as e-commerce sites. In process-oriented contexts, like Facebook, privacy has become a source of conflict for users. The majority of architectural privacy (e.g. privacy policies, website mechanisms) enables the relationship between a user and business, focusing on the institutional privacy concern and trust; however, architectural privacy mechanisms that enables relationships between and among users is lacking. This leaves users the responsibility to manage privacy for their interpersonal relationships. This research focuses on the following question: How does privacy influence the sharing of personal information in interpersonal relationships on Social networking sites? The management of the sharing of personal information is explained using the Need to Belong theory, psychological contract, and approach-avoidance motivation theory. Individuals\u27 desire to interact Socially and engage in relationships where respect for personal information is implied leads to overcoming concerns over privacy. Three essays address the question of interest. Essay 1 explains that this drive is motivated by a fear of Social exclusion from Social transactions and interpersonal relationships and does not rely on the institutional relationship between a user and the Social media website. Essay 2 uses a Social network analysis lens to describe how the multiplexity of relationships and Social influences (both of the network and the self) influence Social interaction and the sharing of personal information. Essay 3 focuses on explaining how individuals\u27 disposition toward subconscious processes of approach or avoidance motivation influence decisions to share and not share personal information. The implication of these studies is that privacy in a process-oriented context--like Facebook--involves different attitudes and beliefs centered on interpersonal relationships rather than institutional ones

Privacy in the age of facebook : discourse, architecture, consequences

Most academic and journalistic discussions of privacy on Facebook have centred on users, rather than the company behind the site. The result is an overwhelming focus on the perceived shortcomings of users with respect to irresponsible privacy behaviours, rather than an examination of the potential role that Facebook Inc. may have in encouraging such behaviours. Aiming to counterbalance this common technologically deterministic perspective, this thesis deploys a multi-layered ethnographic approach in service of a deep and nuanced analysis of privacy on Facebook. This approach not only looks at both the users and creators of Facebook, it examines Facebook Inc. in the context of historical, cultural and discursive perspectives.Specifically, this thesis details how the company's privacy policy and design decisions are guided not simply by profit, but by a belief system which which encourages "radical transparency" (Kirkpatrick, 2010) and is at odds with conventional understandings of privacy. In turn, drawing on Fiske's model of popular culture, users "make do" with the limited privacy choices afforded them by the site, while at the same time attempting to maximise its social utility. As this dynamic demonstrates, Facebook Inc. plays a critical, yet often overlooked role in shaping privacy norms and behaviours through site policies and architecture. Taken together, the layers of this thesis provide greater insight into user behaviour with respect to privacy, and, more broadly, demonstrate the importance of including critical analyses of social media companies in examinations of privacy culture