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Fernback, Jan. and Papacharissi, Zizi. "Online Privacy as Legal Safeguard: The Relationship Among Consumer, Online Portal, and Privacy Policies" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA, May 27, 2003 <Not Available>. 2009-05-26 <http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p111376_index.html>

Fernback, J. and Papacharissi, Z. , 2003-05-27 "Online Privacy as Legal Safeguard: The Relationship Among Consumer, Online Portal, and Privacy Policies" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Marriott Hotel, San Diego, CA Online <.PDF>. 2009-05-26 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p111376_index.html

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript Review Method: Peer Reviewed Abstract: The advent of information technologies has raised public concern regarding privacy, as documented by the results of several surveys. While several European Union member countries must follow strict and specific regulations that protect consumer privacy, the United States has followed a privacy policy of self-regulation; thus, individual companies themselves devise formulas for ensuring customer privacy online. As borders designed to protect the consumer, online privacy statements seldom provide explicit reassurance that consumer information will be kept confidential and will not be exploited. In this study, we focus on online privacy and investigate how consumer information is protected or exposed by online portal sites. Building on a previous content analysis, which found that privacy statements do not always protect customer interests as much as they serve as legal safeguards for the companies involved, we propose a textual analysis designed to supplement and strengthen our previous findings. We undertake this study because, whether or not consumers read these statements, they provide evidence of the internet industry's self protective efforts at the expense of consumer privacy of information. Public discourse about the cultural impact of information technology often focuses on privacy concerns. The Pew Internet & American Life Project reveals that 701f Internet users call for new laws to protect consumer privacy online (Fox and Lewis, 2001). Advanced data mining technologies have led to the proliferation of consumer database and management enterprises. Personal data is now a tradable commodity in capitalist societies (Hamelink, 2000), placing free market principles and privacy protection at odds with one another. Since digitally stored data can have an indefinite life span, public concern over the ability to control our own information is evident in consumer reluctance to provide personal data to online businesses (Fox and Lewis, 2001; Elgesem, 1996). Whether or not consumer anxiety about information gathering is warranted, the online industry has responded to public concern and consumer advocacy efforts with voluntarily posted privacy statements to alleviate those concerns. Although governed by suggested industry guidelines, these privacy statements seldom provide explicit reassurance that consumer information will be kept confidential and will not be exploited. Instead, they frequently outline how companies intend to use private customer information so that, in the event of consumer complaints, the companies are absolved of responsibility. Companies such as Microsoft Passport Services are known for exploiting consumer information, and were finally pressured into revising their privacy policies and statements following a series of articles originating from Salon.com. Both Yahoo's and Microsoft's Hotmail email services reportedly divulged customer information in opposition to their stated privacy policies not to share personally identifiable information (Gillis, 2002). Online privacy statements are often placed inconveniently at the bottom of the page and are often tedious, complex, and replete with legal language the average web user finds difficult to comprehend. Kandra (2001) finds that many of the security statements of e-tailers sound reassuring, but offer very little protection to the individual consumer. Additionally, web users often find privacy policies difficult to trust (Reagle & Cranor, 1999). Building on this evidence, we examine privacy statements posted by online companies to determine whether they effectively protect personally identifiable and non-identifiable data. A discourse analysis of privacy statements could provide in-depth analysis of privacy statement content, and examine how portals use statements to guarantee personal information privacy and/or legally protect themselves. Because this is ultimately a policy question, a discourse analysis would allow the detailed examination of language, both legal and technical, contained within these statements to determine how a document designed to guarantee consumer privacy protection transforms into a company legal safeguard. Qualitative textual analysis techniques (following Fairclough, 1995; 2000 and van Dijk, 1997) seek a deep explanation of meaning through the observation and interpretation of patterns displayed in a mediated text (web portal privacy statements in this study). Textual discourse analysis lends an empirical grounding to the abstract observations about the social character of language and its cultural functions offered by social theory (Fairclough, 2000). A sample of web portals chosen from phase I of this study are analyzed. This work examines discourse (as defined by Fairclough) as a text. Fairclough characterizes discourse analysis as an examination of texts or language in concordance with the thematic structure of the text and speech. This interpretation of textual characteristics considers speech practices and sociocultural practices embedded within the text. Thus, the aim of discourse analysis, according to Fairclough, is to clarify the "systematic links between texts, discourse practices, and sociocultural practices" (1995, p. 17). Similarly, van Djik's (1997) stated purpose of discourse analysis is to study texts "not only as form, meaning and mental process, but also as complex structures and hierarchies of interaction and social practice and their functions in context, society and culture" (p. 6). For the purposes of this research, discourse will encompass written language in the text of the privacy sections in the sample of web sites. The unit of analysis in this study is the relation between two themes within the online text: consumer protection and legal safeguards for the web company. It examines the legal and computer-oriented vocabulary, grammar and syntax, and organization of web sites to interpret the meaning of the use of privacy in terms of the data-sharing practices of the companies who own the sites. It examines assumptions about rights, concepts of privacy, and data mining. Specifically, this research asks: to what extent does the language in online privacy statements serve to protect and reassure the consumer while allowing the web company to sell and mine consumer information? Are abstruse legal and computer terms used to confuse the consumer in order to obscure the company's data sharing policies? What terminology do these sites use to maximize their own protection while reassuring the user? These statements will be analyzed in terms of policy considerations for the protection of personally identifiable consumer information. Building on a previous content analysis conducted by the authors, we hope that this study will expose the vulnerability of the privacy statement as a method of privacy protection. Constant technological changes and the interlocked nature of new media ownership combined with the miniscule number of users who ever notice or even read these statements further challenge the effectiveness of this instrument and indicate that privacy protection should involve more direct and legislative measures. Focusing on the use of language will help understand the process through which private information is compromised under the guise of offering personalized and improved services. We hope that this research would lend support to the FTC's recommendation for a legislative solution to online privacy concerns rather than industry-driven privacy initiatives. References Elgesem, Dag. (1996). Privacy, respect for persons, and risk. In Ess, Charles (ed.), Philosophical Perspectives on Computer-Mediated Communication. Albany: State University of New York Press, 45-66. Fairclough, N. (2000). Critical analysis of media discourse. In P. Marris & S. Thornham (Eds.), Media Studies: A Reader, 2nd Edition, (pp. 308-325). New York: NYU Press. Fairclough, N. (1995). Media Discourse. London: Edward Arnold. Fox, Susannah & Lewis, Oliver. (2001, April 2). Fear of online crime: Americans support FBI interception of criminal suspects' email and new laws to protect online privacy. Pew Internet & American Life Project. http://www.pewinternet.org. Gillis, Cydney. (2002, May 16). Soft talk: Hotmail pushes for revenue. Eastside Journal, http://www.eastsidejournal.com/92560.html. Hamelink, Cees, J. (2000). The ethics of cyberspace. London: Sage. Kandra, Anne. (2001, July). The myth of secure e-shopping. PC World, 19(7), 29-32. Reagle, Joseph, & Cranor, Lorrie Faith. (1999, February). The platform for privacy preferences. Communications of the ACM, 42(2), 48-55. van Dijk, T. A. (1997). Discourse as interaction in society. In T. A. van Dijk (Ed.), Discourse as Social Interaction (pp. 1-37). London: Sage.

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