A comparison of privacy issues in collaborative workspaces and social networks

With the advent of Web 2.0, numerous social software applications allowpeople to publish and share information on the Internet. Two of these types ofapplications – collaborative workspaces and social network sites – have a number offeatures in common, which are explored to provide a basis for comparative analysis. This basis is extended with a suitable definition of privacy, a sociological perspectiveand an applicable adversary model in order to facilitate an investigation of similaritiesand differences with regard to privacy threats. Practical examples are derived from theuse of Wikipedia and Facebook. Analysis suggests that a combination of technical, legal, and normative solutions should be considered to counter privacy issues. Anumber of potential solutions that may mitigate these issues are proposed