Web sites can bolster user confidence by clarifying their privacy practices upfront, allowing visitors to become active players in the decision-waking process. NTERNET USHRS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT 48 FebFu.iry I 999/Vol 41, No 2 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM

Despite the values of freedom and openness, the free culture movement's gender balance is as skewed (or more so) as that of the computing culture from which it arose. Based on the collection and analysis of discourse on gender and sexism within this movement over a six-year period. I suggest three possible causes: (a) some geek identities can be narrow and unappealing; (b) open communities are especially susceptible to difficult people; and, (c) the ideas of freedom and openness can be used to dismiss concerns and rationalize the gender gap as a matter of preference and choice.

I argue that the proliferation of the term FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and its siblings (FOBO, FODA, MOMO, FODO) can be understood as envy-related anxiety about missed experiences (fear of missing out) and belonging (fear of being left out). Beyond feelings, people who speak of FOMO also speak of it as a behavior, most often as a compulsivity (related to what I characterize as conspicuous sociality) and as an illness to be remedied. And although FOMO is often seen as a recent phenomenon, I argue it is a continuation of a centuries-old concern and discourse about media-prompted envy and anxiety (i.e., “keeping up with the Joneses” and neurasthenia).

Privacy is a necessary concern in electronic commerce. It is difficult, if not impossible, to complete a transaction without revealing some personal data -a shipping address, billing information, or product preference. Users may be unwilling to provide this necessary information or even to browse online if they believe their privacy is invaded or threatened.Fortunately, there are technologies to help users protect their privacy. P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences Project) from the World Wide Web Consortium is one such technology. However, there is a need to know more about the range of user concerns and preferences about privacy in order to build usable and effective interface mechanisms for P3P and other privacy technologies. Accordingly, we conducted a survey of 381 U.S. Net users, detailing a range of commerce scenarios and examining the participants' concerns and preferences about privacy. This paper presents both the findings from that study as well as their design implications.

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