Current privacy policy attitudes and fair information practice principles: A macro and micro analysis

Abstract

In an increasingly technology dependent and digitized world, the privacy of users’ personal data is a growing concern. Unlike the European Union (EU), with their General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements, the U.S does not have any nationally accepted privacy policy standards other than guidelines in the Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPP). This puts the onus on companies to create ethical, clear, and transparent privacy policies. The incorporation and effectiveness of just these general non-binding FIPPs was the focus of our study. A literature review and developing, distributing, and analyzing a survey about the privacy policy attitudes and behavior and well as specific wording and contents of the Uber and Lyft privacy policies fulfilled our goals. The results and conclusions from this study found a disconnect from the guidelines found in the FIPPs and the respondents’ expectations of privacy. A contrasting difference between older and younger age groups' behavior towards privacy policies was also discovered.