DYNAMIC PRIVACY FRAMEWORK
17
17
is important to many Americans, as 65 percent of online social network
users say they have changed their privacy settings to limit what they
share online.
47
Popular discussions of privacy often suggest that younger
Internet users have little concern for their own privacy. Recent studies
have found that a significant number of young adult users of online
social networks change their privacy settings, and one study suggested
that young adult users’ perceptions of online privacy may be in harmony
with older users’ perceptions.
48
A study has also suggested that young
adult users often misunderstand the protections that they are afforded
trust and consumer expectations—into the corporate psyche as well as business
operations”); Comment of NetChoice Coalition (NetChoice) at 5 (“[T]he challenge for
policymakers is a similar calling for online companies—‘align flexibility for innovators
along with privacy protection’—in order to earn consumer trust.”); W3C Comment at §
III.a (“Sustainable online commerce requires sustained trust by users in their online
experiences. A key piece of trust online is confidence that privacy expectations are met.
Even when the provider acts in good faith, a consumer who does not understand the
provider's effort, will not gain more trust, and might very well walk away. User trust
requires user understanding. Privacy-related interactions need to be simple and
understandable to everyday users. Unfortunately, today’s interfaces tend to display
large complex statements or technical jargon that nobody understands, if they say
anything about privacy at all. Such incomprehensible messages neither improve privacy,
nor increase the trust and confidence required for online transactions.”).
47
Mary Madden and Aaron Smith, Pew Internet & American Life Project, Reputation
Management and Social Media: How People Monitor Their Identity and Search for Others
Online, at 3, May 26, 2010,
http://pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2010/PIP_Reputation_Management_wit
h_topline.pdf. According to the same survey, “adult internet users have actually become
less likely to express concern about the size of their digital footprints,” id. at 4, though
the most of this decrease is attributable to those who have never used a search engine
to check up on their digital footprints,” id. at 4. Moreover, the report notes that “it is
important to note that the results from this question are not a measure of internet [sic]
users’ overall views on ‘privacy’ or the extent to which they wish to have control over
their personal information online.” Id. at 21.
48
Mary Madden and Aaron Smith, Pew Internet and American Life Project Poll,
Reputation Management and Social Media, at 29 (May 26, 2010),
http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2010/PIP_Reputation_Managemen
t_with_topline.pdf (reporting that 71% of “social networking users ages 18-29 have
changed the privacy settings on their profile to limit what they share with others
online”). See also danah doyd and Eszter Hargittai, Facebook Privacy Settings: Who
cares?, F
IRST MONDAY, vol. 15, No. 8 (2010), (finding that “the majority of young [18- and
19-year-old] adult users of Facebook are engaged with managing their privacy settings
on the site at least to some extent”),
http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/3086/
2589; Chris Hoofnagle, Jennifer King, Su Li and Joseph Turow, How Different are Young
Adults from Older Adults When It Comes to Information Privacy Attitudes and Policies?
(Apr. 14, 2010), http://www.ftc.gov/os/comments/privacyroundtable/544506-00125.pdf
(reporting that “large percentages of young adults (those 18-24 years) are in harmony
with older Americans regarding concerns about online privacy, norms, and policy
suggestions” ).