8-533 / 8-733 / 19-608 / 95-818: Privacy Policy, Law, and Technology

Homework 5 - due October 28, 2010

Don't forget to properly cite all sources (including assigned readings) and include a bibliography with all homework assignments.

Reading assignment: October 19-28 readings

1. Write a short summary of each chapter in the reading assignment (3-7 sentences each). Graduate students should also read and write a summary of one optional reading paper. After each summary (in a separate paragraph) provide a "highlight" for that chapter. This can be something new you learned that you found particularly interesting, a point you would like to discuss further in class, a question the chapter did not fully answer, something you found confusing, a point you disagree with, or anything else you found noteworthy. [35 points]

2. [35 points] Think about the privacy you have when using Facebook or other social networking sites (SNS) If you don't currently have an account on an SNS, please create one for this assignment.

(a) Describe the privacy settings that your SNS makes available. How have you configured your settings? How do your settings impact who can see your photo? your contact information? Do the provided settings give you sufficient control over your privacy? If not, what types of privacy preferences are you unable to express? Are the privacy settings easy to use? If not, what would make them more usable? Did you decide to change your settings while doing this assignment? If so, how and why?

(b) Imagine that your SNS had an application that automatically detected what you were doing on your computer (idle, using a particular program, browsing a particular web site, sending email to a particular person, etc.) and made that information available to other people on the SNS. What sort of controls would you want over the conditions under which this information was made available? Now imagine that your SNS had an application that automatically detected your current physical location (using GPS, WiFi positioning, cell tower triangulation or other technology to detect the location of your phone or laptop computer) and made that information available to other people on the SNS. What sort of controls would you want over the conditions under which this information was made available?

3. Do part 3 of the group privacy policy project. [30 points]