Interdependent privacy: Let me share your data

Abstract

Users share massive amounts of personal information and opinion with each other and different service providers every day. In such an interconnected setting, the privacy of individual users is bound to be affected by the decisions of others, giving rise to the phenomenon which we term as interdependent privacy. In this paper we define online privacy interdependence, show its existence through a study of Facebook application permissions, and model its impact through an Interdependent Privacy Game (IPG). We show that the arising negative externalities can steer the system into equilibria which are inefficient for both users and platform vendor. We also discuss how the underlying incentive misalignment, the absence of risk signals and low user awareness contribute to unfavorable outcomes. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.