Toward Privacy Standards Based on Empirical Studies

In this paper, we argue that if privacy standards are created to guide “do-not-track” technologies, these standards should be created with the primary stakeholder in mind: the data subject. Previous privacy and security standards have been unsuccessful because implementations were inconsistent, confusing, or not readily apparent to the user. The Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPs) empower users to make informed decisions about their privacy and should be the basis for any resulting privacy standard. However, research must be conducted to determine best practices for presenting this information to users. We describe one such study that we are currently conducting and what we expect to learn about promoting informed consent with regard to data sharing.