ISHANDS-Privacy-B: Digital Privacy

This course aims to offer an in-depth understanding of privacy and its implications for individuals. We will take different angles on privacy (e.g., psychological, economical, technical, and ethical). Among others, we will learn which information will be collected about individuals and notice that individuals need to make trade-off decisions of whether they accept or avoid the data collected. Based on that, we will develop strategies for how individuals might protect themselves and learn that privacy is highly subjective and contextual. An individual might not have privacy concerns in one context but in others. In detail, we will cover the following topics:

• Why is privacy (still) important, what does it mean, and how does it differ from other concepts (e.g., security)
• How to explain privacy-related behaviors theoretically (e.g., privacy calculus, protection motivation theory)
• Which technologies protect and which violate individuals’ privacy (e.g., privacy-enhancing vs. privacy-intrusive technologies)
• What is the economic value of customer information, and what financial risks can result from privacy violations
• What is the role of moral and ethical standards for behavior and privacy (e.g., biases)
• What context-specifics exist in healthcare, social media, etc.