IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - June 2016 - 84

not function. They could also use a "browse privately"
option. Both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox offer
these options for users on their browser. The user sim-
ply has to click the option when on the drop down
options menu and the web browser will not save any of
the cookies or data from that session. If cookies are the
main problem, then users also have the option to use a

The public needs to be educated
as to what informational privacy
they have.

grew, the companies evolved along with their privacy poli-
cies. However, many users remained unware of changes
in privacy policies. Popular web platforms such as
Google, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are not under
the same amount of scrutiny as other surveillance institu-
tions, even though their business model is very similar.
This situation has allowed users to be left in the dark in
regards to their privacy rights and what information is
seen by others. The public needs to be educated in what
informational privacy they have. The first step to accom-
plishing this education is changing the privacy policy doc-
uments meant to inform users. From there, we hope that
web platforms will be held to a higher standard, with
users demanding transparency and more control over
their own privacy.

Author Information
"do not track" signature when they are accessing the
Internet. This notifies the website that the user does not
wish for cookies to be placed on their computer.
The drawback to these approaches is that they are
not very effective because the majority of web platforms
do not honor "do not track" signatures [40]. The last
option available to users to circumvent the privacy agree-
ments is to use the Tor browser [1], [60]. The Tor brows-
er offers completely anonymous browsing so the user
does not have to worry about a website tracking them
online or knowing their IP address [47]. However, this
does not fix the problems with creating user accounts on
web platforms or posting on them since the user's identi-
ty is tied to the account.
Sadly the problems with user accounts and use of
web platform cannot be solved by the user alone. Fur-
ther research should examine ways users could take
control of their own privacy, or at a minimum, explore
better ways to keep users informed about information
they are giving away. Self-regulation with web platforms
has had some success in the United States; however
only 14% of companies that collect consumer informa-
tion provide notice of their information policies [5]. Out-
side of academic research, governmental agencies
should consider changing how the law applies to Inter-
net communications because regardless what the law
states, users consider what they state on social media
and in email to be private information [2], [39]. If there
is such a large disconnect between the majority of the
public and the law, something should change.

Improve Privacy Policies and
Increase Awareness
Internet platforms such as Google, Facebook, Twitter,
and LinkedIn are nearly fully integrated into the lives of
users worldwide. As the user base of these companies

The authors are with the College of Communication
and Information, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
40506. Email: Stephanie.winkler@uky.edu, szeadally@
uky.edu.

References

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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

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june 2016

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