Corporations baffled by ‘network privacy’
p2pnet news view | P2P:- Social networking sites have become the preferred way of communicating for many young Canadians in a level of technological penetration rivaling that of the phone, says Ryerson University professor Avner Levin.
Their “new perception of social network privacy” is unique and, “largely incomprehensible” to the corporate world, he says.
And that’s causing serious problems when younger generations enter the workforce, states Levin in the Next Digital Divide: Online Social Network, presented at a Toronto privacy conference.
The difference between how younger and older people regard online data becomes an important issue when the former enter the workforce, say Levin and co-authors Mary Foster, Bettina West, Mary Jo Nicholson, Tony Hernandeza and Wendy Cukier.
“Young people believe that information shared with their personal social networks is considered private as long as its dissemination is limited to their social network,” the say.
“Organizations, on the other hand, don’t recognize this notion of network privacy. They believe that any information posted online is public and deserves no protection.”
The study found while online social networkers are, “comfortable posting large amounts of personal and private information,” they do so differentiating between destinations for that information.
“Friends, family and work are three separate networks in their minds,” says the paper. “Young people are concerned that their personal information while freely shared within their network of friends may end up in the hands of others such as family and managers who may not be members of the same network.
Researchers found although students who are closer to entering the workforce full-time are more concerned about their reputation and the difficulty in “scrubbing” their online electronic record clean, they don’t actually take steps to do so.
“Similarly, young women are more aware and concerned about their privacy and reputation and therefore more active in attempting to control access to their information,” says the Next Digital Divide.
Now, Canadian employers are facing challenges on how to manage the use of online social networks with this new generation of employees, says Levin, adding:
The report says it’s the largest survey to date on the usage, attitudes and perceptions of risk more than 2,000 young Canadians, “engaged in online socializing”.
It also has data from 16 in-depth interviews with leading public and private sector organizations, on the use of online social networks by organizations for commercial purposes, and offers recommendations on how the risks of online socializing can be reduced and privacy be protected.
Key findings
Nine out of ten young Canadians socialises online regularly and frequently
- Young Canadians are largely aware of the risks of online socializing, and have attempted to control the release of their personal information online
- A new digital divide has been created between a generation of young Canadians and a generation of managers and executives for which young Canadians work
- Young Canadians have a unique perception of network privacy, according to which personal information is considered private as long as it is limited to their social network
- Organizations reject and do not recognize the notion of network privacy. Instead, they subscribe to the view that information posted online is public and deserves no protection
- Organizations do not have policies, practices or guidelines in place that explicitly govern the use of online social networks by their employees, or by the organizations themselves for marketing and for human resources purposes
- Online social networks, while benefiting greatly from the advertising revenue generated by their users’ personal information, have successfully created a public image of their business as a passive conduit, pipeline or wall, on which personal information can be displayed, and have avoided responsibility in the public mind for any harm caused to the privacy or reputation of their users
Recommendations to Organizations
- Develop an understanding of online social networks and their role in the culture and communication behaviour of young Canadians – your customers and your employees
- Develop clear rules and guidelines about the use of online social networks at work and at home based on principles that employees will accept
- Support these policies with appropriate tools and enforcement
- Do not actively seek information from online social networks for recruitment and selection processes, and if access to such information is obtained, refrain from using it
- Ensure that uses of online social networks or the information obtained from them to fulfill marketing goals and objectives are in compliance with PIPEDA
Recommendations to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner
- Explore the tools and approaches appropriate to developing a collaborative campaign targeting young Canadians to ensure that they take appropriate steps to protect their privacy on online social networks
- Work with the online social networks to develop tools or policies to ensure the protection of individual privacy
- Advocate that online social networks providers assume greater responsibility for privacy breaches, and that they provide more resources to raise awareness and educate individuals about privacy risks
- Establish mechanisms and processes to monitor and anticipate emerging trends in social networking that may jeopardize the privacy of Canadians
- Ensure that the legal and regulatory frameworks for the protection of Canadians keep pace with these developments.
[NOTE: Charts incuded in this report are from Next Digital Divide: Online Social Network.]
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September 6th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I have refused to sign up at any of these social networks. It’s been no secret that they datamine the heck out of the program and it’s users. They have enough traffic that all the spammers and scammers are now taking a look because of the traffic volumes. Plus as mentioned, employers are looking at such social sites as a source of info on potential employees.
Why should I be willing to supply that? The social sites seem to have all sorts of predators lurking around for the unwary. Doesn’t sound like my sort of place.
September 6th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
“…they datamine the heck out of the program and it’s users.”
Also my number one beef about social sites, and many others.
It’s as if all existing laws and attitudes surrounding the subject somehow just vanished one day! (They haven’t!) It’s the norm now for everyone to have to automatically “accept” that their information and surfing habits are being shared with everyone else. So much, so, that even ISPs are now playing with the idea – launching (illegal) info-gathering test runs “straight from the trusted source”, without anyone’s consent – and showing us how eager the Big Corporate Machine is to “claim” all things online, and how our rights and our wishes are no longer of any concern to it. (I’m sure we’re all familiar with the Phorm/NebuAd/FillInYourOwn story by now.)
For quite some time now, I’ve been monitoring and moderating all activity directed at my computer – cookies, scripts, whatever – as I refuse to cooperate with the Corporate Collective.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Sure, the Corporate Collective is “baffled” by the concept of network privacy.
It’s baffled by anything that remotely stands in the way of pursuing yet another profit venture. Pursuit of profit is the ONLY thing the Collective is programmed to do. The mission is forever driven by this selective ignorance.
“All other things are irrelevant. You will be ASSIMILATED.”
I use the word “selective” quite intentionally.
I don’t, even for one minute, believe the Collective is not COMPLETELY aware of its own interference in our lives, the impact that has, and the dangers to us thereof.
“Baffled” as it says it is, the Collective can and will be reprogrammed!