e-Privacy and Social Networks

The technological risks for privacy and anonymity are not limited to the problems of databases. Social networks, RFID tags, ubiquitous data processing and robotics, for example, are other examples of risk. Social networks have an economic value and search engines increasingly try to access their users' personal information. In contrast, the study of privacy in social networks is a new area. Experts in information technology generally consider privacy as a quantifiable attribute which can be negotiated and probably exchanged between individuals for certain benefits. We believe, on the other hand, that regulation should favour the so-called Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET) to guarantee privacy, and that these are particularly necessary in social networks. Fundamental rights cannot be reduced to individual options which need to be activated. The public component of public policy could be guaranteed if versions favourable to privacy were incorporated in the design of information technologies themselves, such as privacy by default. Another way may be for businesses to see economic benefits in planning technological measures guaranteeing privacy.