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EMPOWERING PERSONAL PRIVACY: THE CONTROL OF PERSONAL INFORMATION IN THE DIGITAL SPHERE by Yong Jin Park A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Communication) in the University of Michigan 2009 Doctoral Committee: Professor W. Russell Neuman, Chair Associate Professor Nojin Kwak Assistant Professor Scott Walker Campbell Assistant Professor Steven J. Jackson Yong Jin Park © 2009 All Rights Reserved Dedication To My wife, Kyung Eun My son, Roland & My daughter, Dainna ii Acknowledgements For me, it was a long journey – filled with pain, sorrow, and solitude. And I remember my mom working in a restaurant late at night and carrying hot noodle bowels to send me the money I needed for a long time. When my mom lost her hair, weight, and got her lymphatic system removed in a hospital bed, I knew my due share of the cause of the pain. My Professor Neuman. … He was more than an advisor to me. As my intellectual father and mentor, he provided me with all the supports that I needed to complete this journey when others were in doubt. The support was not solely sharp and intellectual, but also warm and emotional one that carried me throughout my career at Michigan. All the best that happened to me at Michigan was due to his genuine support, care, and understanding. I am also deeply indebted to my committee members. Professor Kwak fully understood my strengths and weaknesses in private, but always defended, supported, and praised me in public. Professor Campbell, who raised the poignant criticism, never forgot to suggest ways to solve the problems in his generous and continuous support. And Professor Jackson was more than willing to respond to my relentless request for helps in publications, job talk, and this dissertation. To be assured, to me, it was the best committee that anyone could have. This journey took me endless nights with tears, exhaustion, and no sleep, often on the verge of failure and despair. To those who think my journey was too quick and easy, I say the pain. To those who think my journey was too long and expensive, I say the sorrow. Then, it was a lone iii journey to me and my wife. We had to endure the unbearable doubt cast on my abilities as a teacher, a researcher, and a father. The pain was the one she had to swallow just because she chose me and the agony was the one she had to endure more than she deserved. We carry on with those memories – no one but she and I could know. iv Table of Contents Dedication ……………………………………………………………………………... ..ii Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………………………. .iii List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………….....vi List of Figures …………………………………………………………………………...vii List of Appendices ……………………………………………………………………… ix Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………… ..x Chapter 1: Introduction …………………………………………………………………. .1 Chapter 2: Marketplace Ideal and Policy History………………. …………………….. .15 Chapter 3: Institutional & Technical Structure: Content Analysis …………………….. 30 Chapter 4: Individuals: Privacy & Literacy Online: The Survey of Public Awareness .. 55 Chapter 5: Revisiting the Integrated Model & Policy Recommendations …………........99 Appendices ……………………………………………………………………………..110 References …………………………………………………………………………….. 127 v List of Tables Table 2-1 Legislation Chronology …………………………………………………21 3-1 Key Measures …………………………………………………………...41 3-2 Descriptive Statistics: Inform …………………………………………...44 3-3 Descriptive Statistics: Interact …………………………………………..45 3-4 Transparency Index ……………………………………………………..46 3-5 Independent Variables …………………………………………………..48 3-6 Results: OLS Regression Analysis………………………………………49 4-1 Sample Characteristics ………………………………………………….72 4-2 Internet Use Experiences ………………………………………………..73 4-3 Descriptive Statistics of Main Variables ………………………………..81 4-4 Association Between Knowledge & Information Control ……………...84 4-5 Interactive Relationship between Literacy and Concern ……………….87 4-6 Rational Choice: Benefit over Privacy Cost ……………………………87 4-7 Literacy, Concern, and Convenience ………………………………….. .89 4-8 Literacy, Distrust, and Convenience ……………………………………90 4-9 Literacy Correlation Matrix …………………………………………….93 5-1 Zoning the Internet…………………………………………………......104 vi List of Figures Figure 1-A Printing press & mass literacy ..…………………………………….. ……3 1-B False dichotomy: privacy policy debate ……………………………. ……5 1-C Technological potential ..………………………………………………….7 1-D Technological appropriation ..……………………………………..............8 1-E Social construction of the digital sphere ..……………………………….10 1-F Structure of dissertation …………………………………………………12 2-A Technical-institutions & individual users in the construction of the digital sphere ………………………….............15 2-B Lassiez faire model ……………………………………………………….17 2-C The evolution of fair information practices ………………………………24 2-D Level of policy involvement in privacy protection ………………………26 2-E Timeline: policy regime in evolution …………………………………….27 2-F FTC policy rationale ..……………………………………………………28 3-A Empowerment ……………………………………………………………30 3-B Embedded digital transparency ………………………………………….. 32 3-C Summary …………………………………………………………………40 3-D Comparison: time & zone ………………………………………….. ……53 4-A Empowerment ……………………………………………………………56 4-B The function of knowledge ………………………………………………57 4-C Correlation between knowledge & behavior …………………………….58 4-D Concern & knowledge…………………………………………………….64 vii 4-E The moderating role of knowledge ……………………………………..65 4-F Hypothesized interaction ………………………………………………..66 4-G Dimension of systematic information control …………………………..74 4-H Michigan behavioral measure …………………………………………...75 4-I Michigan knowledge measure …………………………………………..76 4-J Measure of concern ……………………………………………………...77 4-K Public inaction …………………………………………………………...86 4-L Public concern ………………………………………………………........86 4-M Knowledge activation ………………………………………….……….. 93 4-N Subcomponents of knowledge ………………………………………….. 93 4-O The centrality of knowledge in the interplay …………………………….97 5-A Conceptual mapping……………………………………………………..100 5-B Revisiting the integrated model …………………………………………101 5-C New policy model ……………………………………………………….107 viii List of Appendices Appendix A: Theoretical Genealogy ………………………………………................111 Appendix B: Pubic/Private vs. Political/Commercial ………………………………..112 Appendix C: Policy Connection to Structure & Culture ……………………………..113 Appendix D: Comparison: Timeline ……………………………………….................114 Appendix E: Sampled Sites …………………………………………………………..116 Appendix F: Moderator vs. Mediator ………………………………………………...120 Appendix G: Survey Items …………………………………………………………....121 Appendix H: Digital Divide & SES …………………………………………………..125 Appendix I: Three Way Interaction …………………………………………………...126 ix ABSTRACT EMPOWERING PERSONAL PRIVACY: THE CONTROL OF PERSONAL INFORMATION IN THE DIGITAL SPHERE by Yong Jin Park Chair: W. Russell Neuman The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the institutional practices and mass behavior that structure personal information flow in the digital sphere. The central question is how the interplay among institutional, cultural, and political forces shapes the definitions of public and private – specifically, how institutions and users respond to the potential of individual empowerment in the control of personal information. The dissertation draws upon three methodologies: (1) content analysis, (2) survey research and (3) policy analyses. The analysis determined that commonly used interface designs for active control of personal information were highly ineffective. Further, differential knowledge of privacy options has strong effects on user behavior independent of levels of concern about privacy. The analysis concludes that current FTC privacy policy guidelines are less than fully successful because of these individual and institutional constraints. Theoretically, this analysis posits that new technologies do indeed have intrinsic properties, yet the social construction of their use and implementation does not happen in a vacuum. Instead, it is understood to be embedded in the complex interplay of institutional/economic, cultural/psychological, and political/policy factors. The potential of empowerment remains highly contingent upon a forceful policy initiative to address these structural and cultural constraints. x 1 Chapter 1: Introduction Empowering Personal Privacy: The Control of Personal Information in the Digital Sphere Introduction The purpose of this dissertation is to examine (1) the institutional practices that structure personal information flow and (2) the operation of individual users in cultural practices. In the application of the notion of the digital sphere (Neuman, 1991; 2009), the central question is how the interplay among institutional, cultural, and political forces shapes the system of information flow/control in the Internet. The dissertation consists of two main parts: the institutional technical structure, on one hand, and the individual user culture, on the other. This is to ask how institutions and users shape/respond to the potential of the empowerment in the control of personal information at the structural and cultural level. For this, the dissertation draws upon multi-methodologies: (1) content, (2) survey, & (3) policy analyses. In integration, the dissertation argues for the particular shaping of structure and culture in enabling/empowering active information control. Framework The Digital Sphere Habermas (1989) idealized the public sphere, e.g., the 18th century Paris coffeehouses, in which citizens should be able to use communicative

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