Article 7; Redrawing the Route to Online Privacy

Today’s article is titled: “Redrawing the Route to Online Privacy”. Written by Steve Lohr of the New York Times, the article aims to address the issue of online privacy. The current system of notifying the internet user of the implications of entering personal information seems to be very ineffective to most people. “It is an artifact of the 1990s, intended as a light-touch policy to nurture innovation in an emerging industry”. There the author was describing the old system of “notice and Choice” currently in use on many sites.

The solution to the problem has not been totally pinned down. Instead, multiple variations exist. “Lorrie Faith Cranor, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon, supports developing "privacy nudges," like short on-screen messages that remind users of the implications of data they're about to send”. There is no shortage of possible solutions such as hers, but the majority seems to fall under the category of “rules and tools”.

An example of the “rules” change the author speaks of is: “For example, the government might ban the use of recorded trails of a person’s Web-browsing behavior — so-called click streams — in employment or health insurance decisions”. Regulations need to be enforced and updated to make forward progress in internet privacy.

The other part of the solution, “tools”, is where Lorrie Faith Cranor’s idea comes in. Tools such as her “privacy nudges” would cause “people to naturally react more strongly, in a visceral way, to anthropomorphic cues”. For example, Ryan Calo of the Center for Internet and Society at the Stanford Law School is “exploring technologies that deliver “visceral notice.” His research involves voice and animation technology that emulates humans”. Calo refers to a study that was done involving free coffee but where bins were placed out for donations. Different bins were used on separate occasions, one had eyes on it while the other had flowers. “Time and again, he said, people paid more often for coffee when the box had eyes instead of flowers”. “Our brains are hard-wired to respond to images that look human, alive,” Mr. Calo said”.

Main Article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/technology/internet/28unbox.html?ref=technology

Second Article:
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/10/is-online-privacy-a-generational-issue/