Ch. 5: Information Privacy

How do retailers use loyalty cards to improve their sales?

Loyalty cards track user's purchases, allowing a retailer to predict which products the customer is interested in to offer coupons/sales for those products to stimulate a sale.

What are the advantages of consolidating a patient's medical records into a single database accessible by many? What are the risks associated with this consolidation?

Advantage: Lower cost and improve quality of medical care by making it quicker and cheaper for information about patients to be shared among multiple healthcare providers. Risk: Difficult to control how that information is disseminated (ex. an employer may choose not to hire someone with a serious medical problem)

Explain the difference between an opt in policy and an opt out policy. Which is favored by privacy advocates?

An opt in policy requires the consumer to explicitly give permission for the organization to share their information; an opt out policy allows an organization to share information unless the consumer explicitly forbids it.

What does it mean to say privacy is a prudential right?

Because recognizing privacy rights is to the benefit of society as a whole.

Why is it important that some information be made available to enjoy everyone through public records?

Checking criminal records when hiring employees, check crime rate before moving to a neighborhood, etc

How could cookies created by a Web server affect a user's privacy?

Cookies can contain login names, passwords, product preferences, and the contents of virtual shopping carts.

What is the difference between data mining and collaborative filtering?

Data mining is the process of searching through data to find patterns to predict information about a single individual; collaborative filtering is drawing upon information about the preferences of a large group of people to predict what an individual may enjoy.

Is privacy a negative right or a positive right?

Privacy is a negative right because you are taking away the interference of other people. It is the "right to be left alone."

How can an excess of privacy cause harm?

Too much privacy can cause people to take advantage of it to carry out illegal or immoral activities, and cause unhappiness from distancing family relationships.

What is the difference between having privacy and being alone?

You can keep things private in a room full of people, and you can be alone but still not have privacy if others know about your personal information.