Empirical Study of Privacy Issues among Social Networking Sites

• Author: Joanne Kuzma
• Position: University of Worcester, UK
• Pages: 74-85

JICLT

Journal of International Commercial Law and Technology

Vol. 6, Issue 2 (2011)

74

Empirical Study of Privacy Issues among Social Networking Sites

Joanne Kuzma

University of Worcester, UK

j.kuzma@worc.ac.uk

Abstract: Social media networks are increasing their types of services and the numbers of

users are rapidly growing. However, online consumers have expr essed concerns about their

personal privacy protection and recent news articles have shown many privacy breaches and

unannounced changes to privacy policies. These event s could ad versely affect data protection and

compromise user trust. Thus it is vital that social sites co ntain explicit privacy policies stating a

comprehensive list of p rotection methods. This study analyzes 60 worldwide social sites and finds

that even i f sites contain a privacy policy, the site pages may also possess technical elements that

could be used to serendipitously collect personal information. The results show specific technical

collection methods most common within several social network cate gories. Methods for improving

online privacy practices are suggested.

1. Introduction

With t he increase in global Internet sites, online social networks (OSNs) are gaining increased importance to

many people around the world for both work and leisure ( Preibusch, et al, 2007). However, as these sites grow in

popularity, they face a variety of design and legal challenges, especially factors related to pr ivacy protection and

misuse of user data. Studies have shown that online consumers are concerned about how OSNs protect t heir

personal information, so it makes sense for site owners to provide privacy policies indicating various methods

the firm uses to protect personal data and provide consumer protection. Because sites have not always been

proactive in providing strong protection, industry groups have created voluntary protectio n standards and some

governments have enacted legislation protection.

This research analyzes the level of privacy protection a mong 60 major OSNs throughout the world. It aims to

answer the following research questions:

• Are there common privacy factors that are being neglected by OSNs?

• Is there any relationship between sites that cater to specific geographic markets in dealing with

privacy issues?

• Do some categories of OSNs (based on geography) have more privacy criter ia problems than

others?

The study starts with a literatur e review of the market for OSNs and how online consu mers view privacy and

trust. It also reviews types of p rivacy factors, legal and industry standards and co ncludes with prior studies of

online privacy p rotection. Next, the research methodology is covered, follo wed by an explanation of the survey

results. Finally, implications for the findings are highlighted, along with suggestions for OSN site owners to

consider when strengthening their policies.