With A Little Help From My Friends: 
Can Social Navigation Inform Interpersonal Privacy Preferences?

Wednesday, October 26th at Noon
Haldeman Center, Room 125 

Abstract

Sameer Patil Indiana University

Recent privacy controversies surrounding social networking systems like Facebook and Google Buzz demonstrate that the mere *availability* of privacy settings is not enough for effective privacy management. We investigated whether the aggregated privacy choices of one's social circle might guide users in making informed privacy decisions. We conducted an experiment in which users specified preferences for six privacy-relevant settings in Instant Messaging. In one condition, users were provided with information indicating the privacy preferences of the majority of their "buddies." Based on the experiment data and accompanying user comments, we suggest several usability improvements in interfaces for specifying privacy preferences.

Bio

Sameer Patil is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University, Bloomington. Previously, he was a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Institute for Management Information Systems at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. His research spans the fields of Human Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Collaborative Work with an emphasis on usable privacy. Sameer obtained his Ph. D. in Information and Computer Sciences from the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. He also holds dual Master's degrees - in Information, and Computer Science & Engineering - from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Mumbai, India.