A Case Study of Community Privacy

Information privacy is desired not only by individuals but also by a community of individuals to safeguard sensitive information for which they are collectively responsible. This paper reports on two aspects of privacy-aware communities that emerged from focus group interviews of three organizations: privacy awareness and situated disclosures. With respect to privacy awareness the study found that individuals within a community sought to limit the disclosure of information sensitive to their members, to their customers, or to the organization itself. The sensitivity resulted from a variety of factors ranging from legal mandates to concern for the dignity of co-workers. The complexity of the communities and the interactions between community factors and privacy were seen. With respect to situated disclosures it was found that compelling organizational interests motivated the disclosure of sensitive information outside of the usual community. However, these disclosures also involved securing internal agreement prior to disclosure, the weighing of the organizational interests against privacy concerns, and the recognition of varying levels of privacy. The relation of these findings to a community privacy model is also presented.