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  • © 2014

Against the Hypothesis of the End of Privacy

An Agent-Based Modelling Approach to Social Media

  • Develops a comprehensive approach to apprehend online privacy in its social context
  • Includes a summary overview of scientific literature and public debates on online privacy issues
  • Provides insight into social media users’ behavior that can be leveraged for public policy purposes
  • Offers recommendations for organizations to design sustainable privacy policies
  • Is complemented by a freely downloadable computer simulation software code

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Digital Spaces (BRIEFSDIGIT)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Conflicting Attitudes of Users, Companies and Governments Over Privacy

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. The Role of Corporate Actors: The Dilemma of Privacy Monetization

      • Paola Tubaro, Antonio A. Casilli, Yasaman Sarabi
      Pages 7-14
    3. Stakeholders and Their Actions

      • Paola Tubaro, Antonio A. Casilli, Yasaman Sarabi
      Pages 15-22
    4. Three Approaches to Privacy: As Penetration, Regulation, and Negotiation

      • Paola Tubaro, Antonio A. Casilli, Yasaman Sarabi
      Pages 23-27
  3. Modeling Privacy: Online Social Structures and Data Architectures

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 29-29
    2. Modeling a Complex World Using Agent-Based Simulations

      • Paola Tubaro, Antonio A. Casilli, Yasaman Sarabi
      Pages 31-46
  4. Why Privacy is not Over Yet (and its Protection is not Futile)

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 47-47
    2. Five Lessons from an Agent-Based Approach to Privacy in Social Media

      • Paola Tubaro, Antonio A. Casilli, Yasaman Sarabi
      Pages 49-53
    3. Conclusions: How Multi-agent Approach Can Side-Step the Lack of Data

      • Paola Tubaro, Antonio A. Casilli, Yasaman Sarabi
      Pages 55-56
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 57-57

About this book

Several prominent public voices have advanced the hypothesis that networked communications erode the value of privacy in favor of a transparent connected existence. Especially younger generations are often described as prone to live "open digital lives". This hypothesis has raised considerable controversy, polarizing the reaction of its critics as well as of its partisans. But how likely is the "end of privacy"? Under which conditions might this scenario come to be? What are the business and policy implications? How to ethically assess risks and opportunities? To shed light on the co-evolution and mutual dependencies of networked structures and individual and collective strategies towards privacy, this book innovatively uses cutting-edge methods in computational social sciences to study the formation and maintenance of online social networks. The findings confound common arguments and clearly indicate that Internet and social media do not necessarily entail the end of privacy. Publicity is not "the new norm": quite to the contrary, the book makes the case that privacy is a resilient social force, resulting from a set of interconnected behaviors of Internet users.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Greenwich Business School, London, United Kingdom

    Paola Tubaro, Yasaman Sarabi

  • Telecom Paris Tech, Paris Cedex 13, France

    Antonio A Casilli

About the authors

Paola Tubaro is a senior lecturer at the Business School of the University of Greenwich in London, UK, and an associate researcher at Centre Maurice Halbwachs (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Paris, France. She is a specialist in social and organizational network analysis.

Antonio A. Casilli is an associate professor at Telecom Paristech (Institut Mines-Télecom) and a researcher at the EHESS (School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences), Paris, France. His latest book is Les liaisons numériques (Digital relationships), Seuil, Paris, 2010.

Yasaman Sarabi is a doctoral candidate at the Business School of the University of Greenwich in London, UK. Her research is focused on business network analysis of multinational private water companies.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access