Types of Privacy Expectations

Area of Science:

• Information Science
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Psychology

Background:

• Assessing user privacy expectations is critical for regulatory compliance, such as under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
• Previous research has predominantly treated privacy expectations as a singular, undifferentiated construct.
• This approach overlooks the nuanced nature of how individuals perceive and value their privacy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and validate a multi-level conceptual model of user privacy expectations.
• To differentiate between four distinct types of privacy expectations: Desired, Predicted, Deserved, and Minimum.
• To establish a hierarchy among these distinct privacy expectation types.

Main Methods:

• Developed a conceptual model of privacy expectation based on existing theories.
• Conducted a within-subjects empirical study involving 1,249 participants representative of the US online population.
• Analyzed participant ratings of privacy expectations in a scenario concerning health-related browsing data collection by a bank.

Main Results:

• Empirical validation confirmed that individuals possess distinct types of privacy expectations.
• Approximately one-third of the population differentiated between Predicted and Minimum privacy expectation types.
• Significant demographic variations, particularly between younger (18-29) and older (60+) adults, were observed in these distinctions.

Conclusions:

• User privacy expectations are demonstrably multi-level, comprising distinct types.
• Future research and practical applications must explicitly account for these different types of privacy expectations for accurate assessment.
• Understanding these nuances is vital for effective privacy policy development and user trust.