simulating online privacy. ethno-computational insights

Simulating online privacy

Simulating online privacyEthno-computational insights

Paola Tubaro1 Antonio A. Casilli2

1University of Greenwich, London

2TELECOM ParisTech and EHESS, Paris

Sunbelt XXXII, 18 March 2012

Simulating online privacyIntroduction

The privacy challenge in social media

Periodic privacy incidents on FB;Alleged tendency to renounceprivacy for an open, connectedexistence;Mark Zuckerberg: ”Public is thenew social norm”;Are we approaching the “End ofPrivacy” as we know it?The notion of publicness fromJürgen Habermas. . . to Jeff Jarvis.


Preliminary ethnographic evidence

FB ethnography

Small data approach;Experiment: create two profiles;Invite 100 contacts to becomefriends;One of the two profiles discloses,the other is a control profile;FB friends provide feedback on howto enrich and develop profile(comments, messages, likes, shares,etc.);Compare the two profiles over 50days.

A.A. Casilli (2010) Les liaisons numériques. Vers une nouvelle sociabilité ? Paris, Seuil.


Preliminary ethnographic evidence

The importance of disclosure on FB

Compare social graphs of twoprofiles;Personal network of actual profilecontinues to grow in size anddisplays a distinctive balancebetween social cohesion (bonding)and social connectedness(bridging);Disclosure is crucial: does thisnecessarily validate the‘End-of-privacy’ hypothesis?

A.A. Casilli (2010) Les liaisons numériques. Vers une nouvelle sociabilité ? Paris, Seuil.


Theoretical framework

Problematizing privacy

In fact, online interactions complexifythe very notion of privacy;

Traditional notion based on metaphorof concentric circles of intimacy;Mono-directional notion (Brandeis): acore of sensitive data to be protected.

⇒ This notion no longer seems welladapted to interactions in a networked

society.


Theoretical framework

Privacy as a multi-directional, dynamic process

Online privacy better describedthrough multi-directional notionof privacy as regulation(Altman);Brunswik’s lens model:Individuals send signals to, andreceive feedback from, theenvironment.

⇒ Self-disclosure accompaniesadaptation to signals from the(social) environment over time.


Research question

Research question

In a social system with:

Formation of personal networks through bonding and bridging;Disclosure needed to form ties;Adaptation to signals from the environment through afeedback process;

What will be the final configuration of the system, in terms ofdegree of disclosure?

Simulating online privacyMethods

Agent-based computer simulation

Generate socially consistent scenarioson a computer;Compare their outcomes;To detect and assess variables cominginto play within specific socialprocesses;To identify sufficient conditions for amacro phenomenon to emerge fromthe interaction of micro behaviours.An aid to perform a thoughtexperiment.


The logic of an agent-based model

Generate an artificial population ofagents in an environment;

Endow them with basic rules ofbehaviour;

Let them interact for a certain timeand step aside;

Observe outcomes at the systemlevel at the end.


Our Simulation model

Programmed and run on NetLogo (Wilensky 1999);

Tie formation rules allowing for both bonding and bridging;

Two embedded notions of privacy:Gradual self-disclosure and adaptation to one’s personalnetwork, through a feedback process;Binary on/off visibility settings.


Model Interface

Simulating online privacyResults

Resulting system configurations

Figure: Stable configurations (20,000 time steps): (1) Small subnets, (2) Supernet.


Two solutions emerge

Many small subnets where contents are locked to contexts⇒ “Elective communities” scenario.

Supernet where all contents are shared by all individuals,regardless of context

⇒ Is this the “End-of-Privacy” scenario?


Effects of varying parameters

Figure: Number and size of nets, varying with connectedness and openness to diversity.


Evolution of privacy on/off settings

Figure: Average privacy settings, varying with connectedness and openness to diversity over time. It is whenindividuals grow more and more connected, and share more and more contents, that privacy becomes relevant again.


For further reflection

The supposed “End of Privacy”scenario is in fact more complexthan expected;

Tendency to greater openness isnot linear and may give rise tocounter-tendencies;

Possibility of cyclical patterns:FB zeroes out privacy settings,users retune them.

Bakshy E., I. Rosenn, C. Marlow, L. Adamic (2012) The Role of Social Networks in Information Diffusion,http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.4145.


Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Fondation CIGREF (ISD Programme 2011) for support.

Paola Tubaro, [email protected] A. Casilli, [email protected]

simulating online privacy. ethno-computational insights

Education

les liaisons numriques

small subnets

feedback process

directional notion

adaptation

paris

signals

varying