Privacy

Privacy is a concept that has been with us for hundreds of years, but it is relatively recently (the last 130 years or so) that it has been seen as something that needs protection as a legal right. Technology has presented many challenges to privacy, from the printing press to recording devices to communication hacking, but Social Media seems to present something new - a phenomenon of people giving up their personal information to an extent that would be considered extraordinary just a generation ago. In this lecture we look at attitudes and behaviors around privacy, see how social norms have shaped our expectations of privacy, and how we have come to trade our privacy for value, making complex (and sometimes ill-informed) risk decisions. We will also explore how people really behave on Social Media systems, to see whether we (as a society) should be concerned about modern attitudes to privacy, and whether there are any advantages that might balance that concern. Finally we look at how technology can be applied to the problems of privacy, both as a preventative measure, but also by aiding transparency and helping people to make better privacy decisions. These slides were updated for 2014.