PRIVACY PROTECTION STRATEGIES ON FACEBOOK

The privacy paradox describes people's willingness to disclose personal information on social network sites despite expressing high levels of concern. In this study, we employ the distinction between institutional and social privacy to examine this phenomenon. We investigate what strategies undergraduate students have developed, and their motivations for using specific strategies. We employed a mixed-methods approach that included 77 surveys and 21 in-depth interviews. The results suggest that, in addition to using the default privacy settings, students have developed a number of strategies to address their privacy needs. These strategies are used primarily to guard against social privacy threats and consist of excluding contact information, using the limited profile option, untagging and removing photographs, and limiting Friendship requests from strangers. Privacy strategies are geared toward managing the Facebook profile, which we argue functions as a front stage. This active profile management allows users to negotiate the need for connecting on Facebook with the desire for increased privacy. Thus, users disclose information, because they have made a conscious effort to protect themselves against potential violations. We conclude that there is a tilt toward social privacy concerns. Little concern was raised about institutional privacy and no strategies were in place to protect against threats from the use of personal data by institutions. This is relevant for policy discussions, because it suggests that the collection, aggregation, and utilization of personal data for targeted advertisement have become an accepted social norm.     

THE ARCHITECTURE OF IDENTITY: Embedding privacy in market institutions

As the Internet becomes integrated into the institutional world around it, attention has increasingly been drawn to the diverse ways in which information technologies mediate human relationships. As an increasingly commercial Internet has been employed to capture personally identifiable information, privacy concerns have intensified. To analyse these matters more systematically, this article considers the ideas about human identity that have been implicit in the development of economics and computer science. The two fields have evolved along parallel tracks, starting with an assumption of perfect transparency and moving toward a more sophisticated appreciation of individuals' private informational states. Progress in the analysis and resolution of privacy problems will require that this evolution be taken seriously and continued.     

Social return on investment—Development and convergence

Social return on investment (SROI) is a relatively new approach to assessing the value created by human activity. This paper explores the development of SROI since its creation in 1996 and concludes by outlining areas for future development. SROI is compared with mainstream global approaches to generating standardized information that informs resource allocation decisions, financial accounting in general, sustainability accounting in the private sector and cost benefit analysis in the public sector.     

Translating privacy: developer cultures in the global world of practice

ABSTRACT

This paper makes the case for considering the role of cross-cultural encounters in shaping developers’ notions of information privacy. Recent studies on privacy by design shed light on developer practices yet tend to regard these workers as a generic category. The paper draws on two interviews with workers in a late-stage Israeli startup as a step toward localizing developers and the global products they design. The analysis identifies four narratives that juxtapose the local, the global and the commodification of users’ personal information: (1) the origin myth of the company; (2) workers’ personal and professional biographies; (3) reports on external regulations; and (4) accounts of work practices, rituals and communication formats. The analysis suggests how the globalization of the startup was implicated in changing ideas and practices relating to users’ information. The paper concludes by discussing some of the challenges facing a culturally-sensitive study of developers as mediators of privacy.     

Informing ourselves about early childhood services

Using a range of examples, the paper argues that there is an information deficit concerning early childhood services; even on the most basic issues, there is either no information or such information as does exists is unreliable, limited or outdated. This matters because information is a necessary condition for good policy, for open and democratic decision making and for giving visibility to young children. The article concludes by considering how an adequate information system might be developed based on annual returns from individual services and regular surveys of households with children.     

THE DIFFUSION OF MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY: SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS AND POLICY RESEARCH

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how social network analysis can be used to provide information for policy decisions pertaining to physicians' adoption and utilization of new medical technology. Interviews and hospital records were used to obtain data on refenals, consultations, discussions, and on-call coverage; utilization of a computer-based hospital information system; and personal and practice characteristics from 24 physicians who belong to a private group practice. The results of a block-model analysis suggest that the physician's relative position in the network is an important determinant of his/her participation in the diffusion process. A number of policy implications related to the introduction of new medical technology into practice settings are discussed.     

Public or Private Management? A Comparative Analysis of Social Policies in Europe

Across the world, political leaders and policy experts frequently use the labels ‘public’ and ‘private’ to organize social policies. A line seemingly separates public from private efforts, with social policies publicly organized in some countries and privately organized in others. According to this perspective, a public social policy is undertaken by government or deals with a public matter. When a social policy is private, non‐public actors and institutions, like employers, undertake it or it deals with a private matter, like body control. This article examines whether public or private approaches to managing social policies are currently emphasized in European countries. I begin by defining social policy and then provide an overview of the public–private dichotomy in managing social policy. I review predominant typological frameworks of public–private organization of social policies and examine three welfare social policies and three social policies dealing with body control by comparing public–private organization of these six policy areas across 21 European countries. I conclude by discussing the limited diversity of public–private organizations of social policies in Europe.     

“Tell Me So That I Can Help You”: Private Information and Privacy Coordination Issues in the Context of Eldercare

In order to provide competent care to aging parents, adult children, and older parents must renegotiate long-standing privacy boundaries that allow caregivers access to parents’ private information. It is reasonable to surmise that caregivers encounter privacy coordination issues when attempting to care for their aging parent. This study utilizes Communication Privacy Management theory to explore what content is considered private and what privacy coordination issues arise in the context of eldercare. Results from 27 in-depth interviews with adult children caring for an aging parent suggest that information concerning parents’ future care, health and well-being, and (in)capabilities were marked private. The findings also detail three disruptions to privacy coordination, including parental caregivers’ ambivalence toward managing parents’ care-related information. Critical implications of the study are discussed, which include how privacy turbulence may be a functional catalyst for boundary recalibration.     

Privacy,technology, and conflict: Emerging issues and action in workplace privacy

IV. Conclusion Growing employee awareness of the degree to which their personal privacy is compromised in the workplace, particularly with regards to information/telecommunicatton-system use and work monitoring, has created an organizational and political climate that may yield significant restrictions on employee monitoring and on how employers maintain and distribute employees’ personal information. While both federal and state governments have generally deferred to the right of the employer-as-owner to set conditions of employment that may include intrusions into employee privacy (Grodin, 1991), a number of statutory restrictions have been promulgated or proposed that will significantly expand employee privacy rights in the workplace. Additionally, it is probable that unions will aggressively assert employee privacy rights within the context of collective bargaining, potentially using employee dissatisfaction with privacy intrusions as a basis for organizing nonunion firms.     

Is fairness in the eye of the beholder? An impartial spectator analysis of justice

A popular sentiment is that fairness is inexorably subjective and incapable of being determined by objective standards. This study, on the other hand, seeks to establish evidence on unbiased justice and to propose and demonstrate a general approach for measuring impartial views empirically. Most normative justice theories associate impartiality with limited information and consensus. In both the normative and positive literature, information is usually seen as the raw material for self-serving bias and disagreement. In contrast, this paper proposes a type of impartiality that is associated with a high level of information and that results in consensus. The crucial distinction is the emphasis here on the views of impartial spectators, rather than implicated stakeholders. I describe the quasi-spectator method, i.e., an empirical means to approximate the views of impartial spectators. Results of a questionnaire provide evidence on quasi-spectator views and support this approach as a means to elicit moral preferences. By establishing a relationship between consensus and impartiality, this paper helps lay an empirical foundation for welfare analysis, social choice theory and practical policy applications.

“There is no objective standard of ‘fairness.’ ‘Fairness’ is strictly in the eye of the beholder... To a producer or seller, a ‘fair’ price is a high price. To the buyer or consumer, a ‘fair’ price is a low price. How is the conflict to be adjudicated?” – Milton Friedman, Newsweek, July 4, 1977.

     

The Institutional Capacity for Forest Devolution: The Case of Forest Land Allocation in Vietnam

The article assesses the institutional capacity of a devolution policy, namely forest land allocation (FLA) in Vietnam. We applied the governance capacity framework, which is based on the policy arrangement approach, to examine the extent to which the policy enables actors to work together in order to solve collective problems. The findings reveal that, overall, the institutional capacity of FLA in Vietnam is rather low, although it varies from region to region. This result is determined by the restricted and ambiguous codification of property rights, the limited resource availability, the symbolic venues for deliberation and the lack of openness of actors towards others’ views in the policy process. External factors, particularly agricultural development, also had a major impact on institutional capacity.     

The Shift towards Family Reunification in Romanian Child Welfare Policy: An Analysis of Changing Forms of Governmental Intervention in Romania

This article examines the transition in Romanian child welfare policy from a paternalistic attitude of taking responsibility for ‘abandoned’ children to a capitalist orientation of reinstating responsibility for ‘abandoned’ children to the private sphere. While this shift in child policy is often seen to reflect a withdrawal of the public sphere from the private world of childcare, this study argues, alternatively, that this shift demonstrates a change in the form of governmental intervention. This article is based on ethnographic research that examines the reflections of Romanian child welfare professionals upon their changing roles.     

An institutional approach to research on public procurement of innovation

The role of public procurement as a means to stimulate innovation has been increasingly emphasized during the last few years. The general argument is that, by applying intelligent demand, public agencies can stimulate private sector innovation that will eventually sustain competitive advantage in a global economy. The emphasis on public procurement used as an innovation policy instrument challenges current institutional practices and skills. The article is based on the assumption that the innovation research community could inform this policy discourse, in particular by drawing on institutional theory, but in order to fully utilize this potential, further revision of the research perspectives seen is needed. The article therefore discusses an institutional approach based on three modes: “multilevel institutional analysis”, “endogenous and exogenous institutions” and “institutions as rationalities”, arguing that such an approach would help to increase innovation research quality and policy relevance.     

Understanding and explaining online personal information-sharing behaviours of New Zealanders: a new taxonomy

Although research evidence shows that people have strong concerns about their privacy online, this does not necessarily mean that they do not share their personal information in varying online relationships. This paper presents New Zealand-based empirical research findings into people’s actual online information-sharing behaviours rather than their attitudes: the motivations, extent, and conditions under which individuals share their personal information in varying online relationships with commercial providers, with government, and on social networking sites. A grounded theory methodology and an abductive analysis were used to identify patterns in the findings and construct a new taxonomy of online information-sharing behaviours: contrary to existing taxonomies, all participants in this study are very privacy aware and make quite deliberate choices about what personal information they share online, with whom, to what extent, and under what circumstances. Four distinctive classifications of people’s online information-sharing behaviours were derived from this study: privacy pragmatists, privacy victims, privacy optimists, and privacy fatalists.     

Philippine migration policy: dilemmas of a crisis

Philippine migration policy is traced from the early 1970s to the present. The main migration trends in the 1990s are described. An assessment is made of the efficacy and appropriateness of present migration policy in light of the economic crisis. A regional approach to migration policy is necessary in order to encourage placing migration as a greater priority on national agendas and in bilateral agreements. In the Philippines, migrants are considered better paid workers, which diminishes their importance as a legislative or program priority. Santo Tomas (1998) conducted an empirical assessment of migration policies in the Philippines, but refinement is needed. Although migration is a transnational experience, there is little dialogue and cooperation among countries. Philippine migration policy defines its role as an information resource for migrants. Policy shifted from labor export to migrant management in the public and private sectors. Predeparture information program studies are recommending a multi-stage process that would involve all appropriate parties. There is talk of including migration information in the education curriculum. There are a variety of agendas, competing interests, and information resources between migration networks and officiating agencies. The Asian financial crisis may have a mild impact, but there are still issues of reintegration, protection, and employment conditions     

Reordering Public and Private in Iranian Cyberspace: Identity,Politics, and Mobilization

The capacity of cyberspace to bypass some of the spatial divisions that underpin social inequality endows it with political significance. This article examines some of the ways in which cyberspace has contributed to redrawing the boundaries between public and private and some of the consequences of this for people, things, and ideas in Iran and the Iranian diaspora. It shows how cyberspace influences a wide range of political phenomena including political mobilization and censorship, intergenerational communication, identity formation, sexuality, sense of belonging, and forms and location of symbolic capital. The relationship between net users in the diaspora and cyberspace involves a circuit of reorderings of one's understanding of the diaspora, one's contact with it in cyberspace, of one's own ideas on the basis of what one finds there, and of social relationships established and maintained in cyberspace. Paradoxically, the very richness and diversity of the ideas and opinions found in Iranian cyberspace may undermine the idea of there actually being a single Iranian diaspora.     

Children of prisoners: exploring the impact of families' reappraisal of the role and status of the imprisoned parent on children's coping strategies

Qualitative data from a larger study on the impact of parental imprisonment in four countries found that children of prisoners face fundamentally similar psychological and social challenges. The ways that children cope, however, are influenced by the interpretative frame adopted by the adults around them, and by how issues of parental imprisonment are talked about in their families. This article argues that families have to reappraise their view of the imprisoned parent and then decide on their policy for how to deal with this publicly. Their approach may be based on openness and honesty or may emphasise privacy and secrecy, or a combination of these. Children are likely to be influenced by their parents'/carers' views, although these may cause conflict for them. Where parents/carers retain a positive view of the imprisoned parent, children are likely to benefit; where parents/carers feel issues of shame and stigma acutely, this is likely to be transmitted to their children. This is important for social workers and practitioners involved in supporting prisoners' families and for parenting programmes.     

Understanding the meanings of children: a reflexive process

This paper identifies a number of children's voices within qualitative academic writing. It suggests that researchers can discover a variety of children's voices by employing reflexive techniques to ensure that their interpretations are not influenced by their personal prejudice, or the ethics, tools, roles and theories of their professional paradigm. It concludes that those who work with children may be able to reinforce the theme of the UN Convention on Rights of the Child by employing this reflexive approach to enable them to attribute equal status to the views of all the children whom they encounter.