Privacy settings

Privacy settings are "the part of a social networking website, internet browser, piece of software, etc. that allows you to control who sees information about you". With the growing prevalence of social networking services, opportunities for privacy exposures also grow. Privacy settings allow a person to control what information is shared on these platforms. Many social networking services (SNS) such as Facebook, have default privacy settings that leave users more prone to sharing personal information. Privacy settings are contributed to by users, companies, and external forces. Contributing factors that influence user activity in privacy settings include the privacy paradox and the third person effect. The third person effect explains why privacy settings can remain unchanged throughout time. Companies can enforce a Principle of Reciprocity (PoR) where users have to decide what information they are willing to share in exchange for others’ information. With the growing focus on internet privacy, there are technologies and programs designed to enhance and encourage more privacy setting activity. Applications such as the Personal Data Manager (PDM) are used to improve the efficiency of privacy setting management. Privacy by design can enhance privacy settings through incorporating privacy notifications or prompting users to occasionally manage their privacy settings. Internet privacy and Information privacy SNS are designed to connect people together online. Users share information and build relationships online. Privacy leaks can still occur even with privacy settings intact. Users’ connections on SNS can reveal personal information such as having friends from the same university can lead to an inference that a person attends that university. Furthermore, even if a person has strict privacy settings enabled, their privacy can still be leaked through their connections who may not have as many privacy settings in place. This calls for enhanced privacy settings that can tolerate different privacy settings while allowing online connections.