Unpacking “Privacy” for a Networked World

Although privacy is broadly recognized as a dominantconcern for the development of novel interactivetechnologies, our ability to reason analytically aboutprivacy in real settings is limited. A lack of conceptualinterpretive frameworks makes it difficult to unpackinterrelated privacy issues in settings where informationtechnology is also present. Building on theory developedby social psychologist Irwin Altman, we outline a modelof privacy as a dynamic, dialectic process. We discuss threetensions that govern interpersonal privacy management ineveryday life, and use these to explore select technologycase studies drawn from the research literature. Thesesuggest new ways for thinking about privacy in sociotechnicalenvironments as a practical matter.