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Linking Offline Stimuli to Online Disclosures: Privacy, Behavior, and Economics

Abstract: In the first part of this talk, I will discuss the extent to which “visceral” stimuli in the physical world can impact security and privacy behavior in cyberspace. In particular, I will present the design and results of a stream of controlled human subject experiments (based on joint work with Laura Brandimarte, Arizona; and Jeff Hancock, Stanford) that explore the influence of sensorial stimuli (indicating the presence of other human beings in the proximal space of a subject) on subjects’ online disclosure of personal, and potentially highly sensitive, information. In the second part of the talk, I will connect those findings to broader streams of research on consumers’ privacy decision making (including consumers’ ability to make informed choices about online privacy), and the economic consequences of those choices.

A buffet lunch will be available at 11:45 a.m. The talk will begin at 12:00 p.m.

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