Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 1 Overview Week 1 - August 31, September 2

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 2 Introductions About me About you  Name  Where are you from?  What program are you in?  Why are you taking this class  Make a name tag EPP

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 3 Syllabus Office hours TA Books Class schedule  Subject to change - check web site for latest updates  Guest speakers  Research and communication skills Homework Project (to be discussed in more detail Sept 2)  Course requirements and grading Class mailing list 

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 4 Cheating will not be tolerated You must do your own homework It is acceptable to discuss the reading assignments and general approaches to solving homework problems with your classmates It is not acceptable to discuss detailed homework answers or to copy homework answers from other students Hopefully you already knew this….

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 5 What does privacy mean to you?

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 6 What is privacy? Information privacy vs. decisional privacy  Information privacy concerns the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information  Decisional privacy concerns the freedom to make decisions about one's body and family Public and Private Spheres  Distinction made in philosophical discourse  Private sphere not bound by public rules "deprived" of being heard and seen by others Defining privacy as a right to  intimacy  secrecy  limited access to the self  control over information

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 7 Westin “Privacy and Freedom” 1967 "Privacy is the claim of individuals, groups or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others" Privacy is not an absolute

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 8 Westin continued Four states of privacy  solitude - individual separated form the group and freed form the observation of other persons  intimacy - individual is part of a small unit  anonymity - individual in public but still seeks and finds freedom from identification and surveillance  reserve - the creation of a psychological barrier against unwanted intrusion - holding back communication Four functions of privacy for individuals in democratic society  personal autonomy control when you go public about info  emotional release be yourself permissible deviations to social or institutional norms  self-evaluation  limited and protected communication

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 9 Different views of privacy Privacy as limited access to self  the extent to which we are known to others and the extent to which others have physical access to us Privacy as control over information  not simply limiting what others know about you, but controlling it  this assumes individual autonomy, that you can control information in a meaningful way (not blind click through, for example)

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 10 Multiple facets of privacy How can posting personal information about myself on my web site result in a reduction of my privacy? How can it result in an increase in my privacy?

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 11 Web privacy concerns Data is often collected silently  Web allows large quantities of data to be collected inexpensively and unobtrusively Data from multiple sources may be merged  Non-identifiable information can become identifiable when merged Data collected for business purposes may be used in civil and criminal proceedings Users given no meaningful choice  Few sites offer alternatives

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 12 Privacy surveys find concerns Increasingly people say they are concerned about online privacy (80-90% of US Net users) Improved privacy protection is factor most likely to persuade non-Net users to go online 27% of US Net users have abandoned online shopping carts due to privacy concerns 64% of US Net users decided not to use a web site or make an online purchase due to privacy concerns 34% of US Net users who do not buy online would buy online if they didn’t have privacy concerns

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 13 Beyond concern April 1999 Study: Beyond Concern: Understanding Net Users' Attitudes About Online Privacy by Cranor, Ackerman and Reagle (US panel results reported) privacystudy/  Internet users more likely to provide info when they are not identified  Some types of data more sensitive than others  Many factors important in decisions about information disclosure  Acceptance of persistent identifiers varies according to purpose  Internet users dislike automatic data transfer

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 14 Few read privacy policies 3% review online privacy policies carefully most of the time  Most likely to review policy before providing credit card info  Policies too time consuming to read and difficult to understand 70% would prefer standard privacy policy format Most interested in knowing about data sharing and how to get off marketing lists People are more comfortable at sites that have privacy policies, even if they don’t read them

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 15 Survey references Mark S. Ackerman, Lorrie Faith Cranor and Joseph Reagle, Beyond Concern: Understanding Net Users’ Attitudes About Online Privacy, (AT&T Labs, April 1999), Mary J. Culnan and George R. Milne, The Culnan-Milne Survey on Consumers & Online Privacy Notices: Summary of Responses, (December 2001), Cyber Dialogue, Cyber Dialogue Survey Data Reveals Lost Revenue for Retailers Due to Widespread Consumer Privacy Concerns, (Cyber Dialogue, November 7, 2001), Forrester Research, Privacy Issues Inhibit Online Spending, (Forrester, October 3, 2001). Louis Harris & Associates and Alan F. Westin, Commerce, Communication and Privacy Online (Louis Harris & Associates, 1997), Louis Harris & Associates and Alan F. Westin. E-Commerce and Privacy, What Net Users Want, (Sponsored by Price Waterhouse and Privacy & American Business. P & AB, June 1998). Opinion Research Corporation and Alan F. Westin. “Freebies” and Privacy: What Net Users Think. Sponsored by Privacy & American Business. P & AB, July Privacy Leadership Initiative, Privacy Notices Research Final Results, (Conducted by Harris Interactive, December 2001), An extensive list of privacy surveys from around the world is available from

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 16 Homework html 1.html

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 17 Project

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 18 Selecting a research topic Brainstorm  What are you interested in?  What would you like to learn more about?  What topics might be relevant to your thesis work?  What topics might be relevant to your future career? Select a small number of candidate topics (Sept 14) Read  How much information seems to be available?  Is this topic over done?  What open questions are there?  Do you still find this topic interesting?  Do you have the skills necessary to pursue this topic? Focus (Sept 23 - one paragraph description)  Select a topic  Define a focused research question Read some more  Conduct a “literature review”  Adjust your topic as needed Write a project proposal (October 5) Research and Communication Skills

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 19 Finding info with search engines General purpose search engines  Google, Yahoo, Altavista, A9, etc. Clustered searching  Vivisimo, Dogpile Search CS research literature    Research and Communication Skills

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 20 Advanced searching Boolean searching  Operators: AND, OR, NOT, NEAR  Implied operators: AND is often implied  Parentheses for grouping  Wildcards  Quotes Getting to know the ins and outs of your favorite search engines  Many search engines do not use pure boolean searching  Most search engines have some special syntax  Search engines use different algorithms to determine best match Research and Communication Skills

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 21 Advanced Googling See net/Google.html net/Google.html Ranks results using PageRank algorithm, taking into account popularity, importance, word proximity Special syntax  intitle, inurl, site, intext, filetype, daterange, numrange  Boolean operators: OR, -  Fuzzy searching: ~,.., *  Exact phrases: “” 10-term limit Special searches Definitions (define), calculator, area codes, flight searches, and more Research and Communication Skills

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 22 Homework discussion 1.html 1.html Questions or comments on the reading?  Is curiosity about other people a uniquely American trait? Collage discussion What does privacy mean to you? Privacy in the news

Privacy Policy, Law and Technology Carnegie Mellon University Fall 2004 Lorrie Cranor 23 Homework html 2.html