Your Data Is My Data: A Framework for Addressing Interdependent Privacy Infringements

Abstract

Everyone holds personal information about others. Each person’s privacy thus critically depends on the interplay of multiple actors. In an age of technology integration, this interdependence of data protection is becoming a major threat to privacy. Yet current regulation focuses on the sharing of information between two parties rather than multiactor situations. This study highlights how current policy inadequacies, illustrated by the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, can be overcome by means of a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. Specifically, the authors introduce a new phenomenological framework to explain interdependent infringements. This framework builds on parallels between property and privacy and suggests that interdependent peer protection necessitates three hierarchical steps, “the 3Rs”: realize, recognize, and respect. In response to observed failures at these steps, the authors identify four classes of intervention that constitute a toolbox addressing what can be done by marketers, regulators, and privacy organizations. While the first three classes of interventions address issues arising from the corresponding 3Rs, the authors specifically advocate for a fourth class of interventions that proposes radical alternatives that shift the responsibilities for privacy protection away from consumers.

Would You Sacrifice Your Privacy to Protect Public Health? Prosocial Responsibility in a Pandemic Paves the Way for Digital Surveillance

“…Thus far, the privacy literature has focused on the individual when examining predictors of privacy behavior, such as desire for control over personal information (Phelps et al, 2001), knowledge about risks (Park et al, 2012), and privacy concerns (Gerber et al, 2018). Our research adds a novel social dimension to recent research, which has begun to investigate the interdependent aspects of privacy (Kamleitner and Mitchell, 2019). In many situations, individuals endanger others' privacy for their self-interest (e.g., when allowing apps access to their contacts).…”

The Competing Demands of Patient Privacy and Clinical Research

“…A learning environment includes many different actors with the possibility of sharing, transferring, and disseminating information among and across various stakeholders, technological devices, and situations. In fact, Kamleitner and Mitchell 16 note that because many people have personal information about others, privacy and protection of personal information cannot depend simply on the actions of one person (such as one's physician) but must instead depend on the choices and behaviors of multiple people who can access their information.…”

Optimizing the Future of Innovative Technologies and Infinite Data

“…Indeed, technology is making our lives more connected, and, because the digital realm contains so much of our personal information, our privacy is at risk for the simple reason that we are more connected. Kamleitner and Mitchell (2019) draw on the parallels between privacy and property to propose peer protection protocols. They term the process that they recommend for protecting the data of others as "the 3Rs": Realizing the transfer of data, Recognizing others' rights, and Respecting others' rights.…”

“…Implications of Parents’ Sharenting for Children’s Online Privacy: An Investigation of Mothers ,” Alexa Fox and Mariea Hoy (2019) explore the act of “sharenting,” which is when a parent shares information about their child (e.g., an image) on social media and find that parent vulnerability influences the vulnerability of their children. In “ Your Data Is My Data: A Framework for Addressing Interdependent Privacy ,” Bernadette Kamleitner and Vince Mitchell (2019) introduce a framework for explaining the nature of interdependent infringements. They suggest that individuals must control access to the data on their devices that belong to other individuals (e.g., contact information for friends or followers on a mobile phone), and to take three key actions (realize, recognize, and respect) to ensure that they do not violate privacy or data use regulations.…”

“…The sharenting article identifies an information-sharing interdependence with agile connections, which is also highlighted by Kamleitner and Mitchell (2019). In their article, they recognize that privacy is subject to the (inter)actions of multiple actors, many of whom could be friends and associates.…”