Interpersonal Privacy Nudge for
Promoting Privacy Protective Behaviors
on Social Network Sites
Haiyan Jia & Heng Xu
College of Information Sciences and Technology
The Pennsylvania State University
PIR 2015 | August 13, 2015
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Content
• Introduction
• Interpersonal Privacy Concerns on SNS
• Nudging toward Privacy-Protective Behaviors
• Conclusion
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INTRODUCTION
Privacy 1.0 vs. 2.0: From Personal to Interpersonal
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Privacy 1.0: All about me
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
The rise of SNS: From me to we
(a) Information owner shares a photo to friends;
(b) A friend re-shares the information to public;
(c) Information is displayed without owner’s consent.
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Paradigm Shift in Privacy Research
• Current research mainly limited to individuals’ personal privacy
o Use and interaction with the websites/service
• Growing need to conceptualize privacy as a social phenomenon (boyd, 2007;
Lampinen et al., 2011; Xu, 2012)
o Social interactions, social relationships, and social implications of information
disclosure
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Privacy 2.0: Consider we
Xu, H. (2012). Reframing Privacy 2.0 in Online Social Network. U. Pa. J. Const. L., 14, 1077.
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
The Interpersonal Aspect of Privacy
• It is through interpersonal relationships that
o Privacy information is being disclosed and disseminated
o Reciprocal privacy considerations are formed
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Research Objectives
1. Conceptualizing privacy as an interpersonal issue for social network
sites
2. Theorizing interpersonal privacy concern as a key factor for privacy
decision making
3. Proposing interpersonal privacy nudge as a mechanism for better
privacy decisions on social network sites
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MOTIVATION
Interpersonal Privacy Concerns on SNS
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Interpersonal Relationship
as the Context for Privacy Perceptions
• Privacy perceptions are strongly tied to specific social situations (Laufer
& Wolfe 1977)
• Privacy perceptions are shaped through the establishment and
maintenance of interpersonal relationship
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Interpersonal Relationship
as the Context for Privacy Perceptions
• Privacy control:
o Individuals can freely decide what and how much information to disclose
o However, they often cannot control what others disclose about them
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Interpersonal Privacy:
The Photo Sharing Scenario
(a) Information owner shares a photo to friends;
(b) A friend re-shares the information to public;
(c) Information is displayed without owner’s consent.
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Interpersonal Relationship
as the Context for Privacy Perceptions
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Interpersonal Privacy Concern
Friend’s disclosure of my private information
My disclosure of friend’s private information
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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Nudging toward Privacy-Protecting Behaviors
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Privacy Concern Drives Privacy Behaviors
• Privacy concerns have great impact on individuals’ behavioral
responses:
o E.g., willingness to disclose information, engagement in online activities, etc.
(Smith et al. 2011)
• Enhancing privacy concerns can encourage adoption of privacyprotective behaviors
• Privacy warnings, however, are often overlooked or ineffective (Egelman
et al. 2008; LaRose & Rifon 2007)
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
“Privacy Nudge”
• Nudging has been used to shift economic decision-making in a
predictable way without significantly changing other incentives (Thaler
& Sunstein 2003 & 2008)
• Nudging as a subtler, less cognitively demanding approach toward
personal privacy protective behaviors (Balebako et al. 2011; Wang et al. 2013)
• Heuristic cues to influence information disclosure decisions in
complex privacy environment (John et al. 2011)
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Interpersonal Privacy Concerns for Promoting
Privacy-Protective Behaviors
Friend’s disclosure of my private information
My disclosure of friend’s private information
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Purposes of Interpersonal Privacy Nudge
1. Remind users of the privacy rules that friends and themselves have
established;
2. Prompt users to consider consequences of potential privacy
conflicts;
3. Increase privacy concerns with enhanced awareness of possible
privacy loss (for self and/or for others);
4. Shift users toward better privacy decision-making and adoption of
privacy-protective behaviors
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Interpersonal Privacy Rules on SNSs
Control
“how much control co-owners
have over the co-owned
private information”
Access
“how much others can know
about the information”
Boundary Extension
“who else can know the
information”
(Child et al. 2009)
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Interpersonal Privacy Impact on SNSs
Impact
Disclosure
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STIMULUS DEVELOPMENT
Interpersonal Privacy Nudge for Social Network Sites
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
The Photo Sharing Scenario
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1
NUDGE FOR
Potential Violation of Friend’s Privacy
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Potential Violation of Friend’s Access Rules
You are about to add this photo to Na Wang’s Timeline.
Na Wang only posted 2 photos to her Timeline in the past 12 months.
Are you sure you want to proceed?
Edit Photo Privacy Setting
Cancel
Share Photo
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2
NUDGE FOR
Potential Violation of One’s Own Privacy
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Potential Violation of One’s Own Access Rules
You are about to add this photo to Na Wang’s Timeline.
This photo has you tagged in it and will also be posted to your Timeline. You only
posted 2 photos of yourself in the past 12 months.
Are you sure you want to proceed?
Edit Photo Privacy Setting
Cancel
Share Photo
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CONCLUSION
Discussion and Future Work
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Conceptual Model
Interpersonal Privacy Nudge
Interpersonal
Privacy Concern
For self
Interpersonal
Privacy Protective
Behaviors
Interpersonal
Privacy Rules
For others
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INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE
Summary
• Individual approach to privacy perceptions and protection is
insufficient
• Reconceptualizing SNS privacy as an interpersonal issue
• An effective strategy for promoting privacy-protective behaviors is
through nudging users toward interpersonal privacy concerns
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THANKS!
INTERPERSONAL PRIVACY NUDGE FOR SOCIAL NETWORK SITES
Haiyan Jia (hjia@psu.edu)
Heng Xu (hxu@ist.psu.edu)
College of Information Sciences and Technology | Penn State University
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