Academic literature on the topic 'Privacy practices'

Abstract This essay uses selected works of Washington Irving and Ralph Waldo Emerson to delineate two different privacies. The first privacy is associated with secreted spaces, whether physical or personal, and is one that has been normalized. The other privacy is under-appreciated and far less understood: it is an unpredictable, speculative flight of what Irving calls “fancy.” The essay argues that each privacy comes with a distinct set of consequences. If we choose to associate privacy with secreted spaces, we ourselves become like texts, able to be read, and we then associate with others as if they can be read as well. If our privacy is “fanciful,” in contrast, we balance the pleasures of being alone with those of being with others. In the end, the essay hopes to dissociate privacy (or a version of it) from privation, and to offer it as a positive, cultural concept. In doing so, it aligns itself with recent explorations of privacy in the context of nineteenth-century American literature.

Purpose This paper aims to uncover the practices of different privacy auditors to reveal the extent of any similarities in such practices. The purpose is to investigate the drivers of practices used by privacy auditors and to identify potential for improvements in the practice of privacy auditing so that privacy audits may better serve stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach Six semi-structured interviews with seven privacy auditors and regulators and an analyst across Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA are used as the basis for our analysis. Findings The study shows that some privacy auditors view privacy as an organizational issue, which means that all staff within an organization should understand the privacy issues that are relevant to the organization and to its customers. Because this practice goes beyond a mere compliance approach to privacy auditing, it indicates that there is a way to avoid the approach of merely applying standards from national data privacy laws which is an approach that has been subject to criticism because it is not applicable to the current situation of global applications and cross-border data. The interview themes demonstrate that privacy audits face significant challenges, such as the lack of a privacy auditing profession and the difficulty of raising the awareness of organizations and individuals regarding information privacy rights and duties. Originality/value Privacy auditing is mostly unexplored by academic research and little is known about the drivers behind the practice of privacy auditing. This study is the first to document the views of privacy auditors regarding the practices that they use. It also presents novel results regarding the drivers of the practice of privacy auditing and the interests of the beneficiaries of privacy audits. It builds on research that argues for the existence of best practices for privacy (Toy, 2013; Toy and Hay, 2015) and it extends this argument by providing reasons why privacy auditors may benefit from the use of best practices for privacy.

Hand-held cell phone technology has been around for quite some time, however when Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, the widespread adoption of smartphones took off. Smartphones allow users to communicate via talk, text and video; access personal and work e-mail and the Internet; run applications; make purchases; manage bank accounts; take pictures - and for many of us are an integral part of our everyday (The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, 2018). Smartphones are “essentially tiny computers, we reach for these devices when we first wake up, bring them with us into the car, and often keep them with us during our most private moments (The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, 2018). Many users rarely turn off their smart phones.

Prior research on privacy protective behaviors has found that online users irrationally trade protection for convenience, and so act against their own privacy preferences. The present article uses expectancy-confirmation theory (ECT) models to explain the continuance behavioral intentions of online users toward privacy-protection practices. It redefines convenience to highlight human behaviors involved in various stages of implementing privacy practices processes. The results show that earlier privacy practice experiences impact the present as well as the future protective behaviors of users, and that convenience-orientation is an important aspect of human nature that should not be inhibited by complex privacy practices. Therefore, to serve online users better, both researchers and practitioners should consider the personal perceptions of convenience of online users when constructing their privacy practices.

Abstract The problem of theorizing privacy moves on two levels, the first consisting of an inadequate conceptual vocabulary and the second consisting of an inadequate institutional grammar. Privacy rights are supposed to protect individual subjects, and so conventional ways of understanding privacy are subject-centered, but subject-centered approaches to theorizing privacy also wrestle with deeply embedded contradictions. And privacy’s most enduring institutional failure modes flow from its insistence on placing the individual and individualized control at the center. Strategies for rescuing privacy from irrelevance involve inverting both established ways of talking about privacy rights and established conventions for designing institutions to protect them. In terms of theory, turning privacy inside out entails focusing on the conditions that are needed to produce sufficiently private and privacy-valuing subjects. Institutionally, turning privacy inside out entails focusing on the design, production, and operational practices most likely to instantiate and preserve those conditions.

Current usage of the DNS system is a significant loophole of Internet users' privacy, as all queries and answers for resolving web address are not protected in most cases. The report elaborates which Internet users' privacy interests exist, and presents the current technologies to enhance DNS Privacy through a systematic literature review. The report also explores the limitations of the current practices and presents several proposals such as DNS-over-Tor and methods to change the trusted recursive resolver to mitigate current limitations periodically.
Den nuvarande användningen av DNS-systemet är ett signifikant kryphål för internetanvändares integritet, eftersom alla frågor och svar som krävs för att konvertera en webbadress till IP-adress inte skyddas i de flesta fall. Rapporten identifierar internetanvändarnas integritetsintressen och presenterar den nuvarande tekniken som syftar till att förbättra DNS-sekretessen genom en systematisk litteraturgranskning. Rapporten undersöker också begränsningarna i den nuvarande praxis och redovisar flera förslag såsom DNS-över-Tor och metoder som möjliggör periodiskt ändring av rekursiva resolvrar, och de metoderna förväntas att minimera integritetsläckor.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices are becoming more and more common in homes, making the security and privacy of these increasingly important. Previous research has found that home IoT users can become a threat to themselves if they lack knowledge of their devices and awareness of potential threats. To investigate how the users’ security and privacy practices can be improved, it is necessary to understand the current everyday practices and what impacts these. This is examined in 10 interviews, revealing that the practices are primarily influenced by convenience, motivation and the effort required from the user. Using these insights, this thesis suggests that tangible interaction needs to be used as a complement to digital solutions to improve the security and privacy practices. By having a physical object that in a simple way can inform everyone of the current security and privacy situation and is equally accessible for all members of a household, the security and privacy can become more attainable for all users no matter their level of knowledge and experience.
Internet of Things (IoT) enheter har blivit vanligt förekommande i hem vilket gör deras säkerhet och integritet allt viktigare. Det har tidigare visats att användare av IoT i hemmet kan utgöra ett hot mot sig själva om de saknar kunskap om enheterna och kännedom om potentiella hot. För att undersöka hur användarnas vanor kring säkerhet och integitet kan förbättras är det först nödvändigt att utforska de nuvarande vanorna och vad som påverkar dessa. Detta undersöks i tio intervjuer som visar att vanorna främst påverkas av bekvämlighet, motivation och ansträngningen som krävs av användaren. Utifrån dessa insikter föreslås det att fysisk interaktion används som ett komplement till digitala lösningar för att förbättra vanorna kring säkerhet och integritet. Genom att ha ett fysiskt objekt som på ett enkelt sätt kan förmedla enheternas nuvarande status och är lika tillgängligt för alla medlemmar i ett hushåll kan säkerhet och integritet bli mer uppnåeligt för alla användare, oavsett deras nivå av kunskap och erfarenhet.

Health research is the single vehicle for uncovering the varying causes of disease or illness, understanding the broader determinants of health, and discovering new or to validating traditional ways of treating the individuals who suffer from these conditions. Thus, health research activities are at the heart of medical, health and scientific developments. While health research activities exemplify some of the greatest hopes for improved health-care, they also highlight public concerns for the protection of personal health information (PHI). More specifically, advances in modern information technology and the increasing pace of international collaborative studies raise challenging issues regarding privacy protection in health research. The extensive quantities of data housed in general-use databases and electronic health records (EHRs) are two frequently cited examples of “electronic health information” that are now increasingly available to researchers globally . For example, individual discrete studies are expanding into long-term prospective disease or treatment databases without clear research questions and involving multiple research teams and jurisdictions. As well, EHRs are increasingly taking a prominent role in Western industrialized nations such as England, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, the United States, as well as Canada. The expected large scale demand for the secondary uses of personal health information (PHI) from electronic health records represents another significant challenge to privacy. EHRs facilitate clinical and population-based health research not only in terms of secondary uses, such as retrospective observational studies, but also for prospective cohort studies. In Canada today, there are two documents that provide direction that is applicable at a national level to privacy protection practices in health research: The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2) and the CIHR Best Practices for Protecting Privacy in Health Research (CIHR BPPP). The TCPS 2, a policy document, is the most influential Canadian policy applicable to the ethics of research with human participants and widely followed by Canadian researchers and institutions. Conversely, use of the CIHR BPPP is purely optional. Canadian REBs are responsible for much of the governance of privacy, confidentiality and security in health research. However, the extent to which they apply and utilize the privacy provisions from the TCPS 2 and CIHR BPPP in their protocol requirements is not known. This thesis provides a descriptive comparative study of the international and Canadian contexts for privacy protection in health research and produces a greater understanding of two Canadian stakeholder groups: the Canadian public, whose participation and trust is imperative for valid research; and Canadian Faculty of Medicine (FoM) university biomedical REBs with whom much responsibility for ensuring appropriate protection of privacy and confidentiality in health research rests.

The most significant issue facing the growth of eCommerce is trust. This research was conducted to determine the type of information users are willing to allow entities to collect online, such as a user's email addresses and click-stream behavior, and its affect on trust. This study determined empirically that participants were more willing to submit non-personally identifying data (e.g., clickstream data) over personally identifying information (e.g., email address); participants were wary of submitting any personal information such as an email address; when a participant submits an email address, it may not be his or her primary email address; the opting defaults for solicitations did not affect trust; participants did not read the privacy policy; and that these findings applied to all web sites, regardless of whether they were shopping/commerce, community, download, or informational. Based on the results, several design guidelines were developed to aid web site designers in creating trusted sites.

Thesis (MComm)--Stellenbosch University, 2002.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the phenomena's in the marketing industry of the past decade is the increased use of database marketing. Database marketing involves the collection, processing and dissemination of vast amounts of consumer information in order to compile detailed consumer databases. The increasing popularity of database marketing can be attributed to various factors. Consumer information can now be obtained easier, cheaper and faster due to the availability of information technology. It has become easier to segment consumer markets and it is possible to identify consumer trends. It is possible to make predictions of consumer behaviour or buying patterns because consumer databases provide a more complete consumer profile with information ranging from demographics, psycho graphics to life-style information. Database technology improves the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing campaigns because marketers can analyse the available information and select the most appropriate marketing strategies and tactics, while concentrating efforts on the most profitable consumer. Marketers therefore waste less effort, money, and other resources by not promoting to individuals who are unlikely to react upon such offers. Widespread databases assist marketers in offering products that are more reasonably priced and more precisely tailored for smaller, more homogeneous market segments. Improved product and service offerings as well as the availability of a wider variety of products and services will likely result in higher consumer satisfaction and could build consumer loyalty. Therefore, marketers use consumer information to improve the overall marketing strategy and individual customer service. Consumers are concerned about database marketing practices because consumers believe some data practices invade personal privacy. The need for privacy has always been inherent to human nature and the concept of privacy dates back to early mankind. One should however differentiate between an individual's basic need for privacy from a general perspective and privacy within a consumer-marketer context. Privacy from a general perspective refers to one's territoriality and need for physical seclusion, whereas consumer privacy mainly relate to the privacy of personal information. Bennett, as well as Stone and Stone proposed that a state of privacy exist when a consumer can control social interaction, unwanted external stimuli, and the dissemination of personal information as well as being able to make independent decisions without outside interference. Consumers' need for privacy is however, in conflict with the need for social interaction and the need to participate in commercial exchange relationships. The more a person interacts with other members of society, the more the person could expect to compromise some privacy. This implies that when consumers participate in a business transaction, or where an exchange relationship exists between the database marketer and consumer, consumers could expect that a degree of privacy will be lost. Consumer groups however, argue that some marketing practices invade the reasonable amount of privacy consumers should be able to expect. The raising consumer concern for privacy is attributable to several reasons. The primary driver of consumer concern is the general lack of knowledge on data collection and use. Other reasons for the raising privacy concern include the type of information collected and the amount of control consumers have over subsequent use of data; the use of personal information to identify specific individuals; collection and use of sensitive information, such as medical and financial data; the volume of information collected and used; secondary information use; the use and dissemination of inaccurate databases; the collection and use of children's data; the lack of tangible benefits received in exchange for information provided; and the use of consumer information for financial gain. Consumers have also expressed concern about electronic database marketing practices because of the secrecy in data collection and use. However, privacy concerns may vary depending on consumers' cultural orientation, age, perception on what constitutes good marketing ethics or the specific methods employed to obtain consumer data. One could distinguish between several consumer clusters when considering consumers" attitudes on database marketing practices and personal privacy. In this regard the typical South African consumer is classified as a "pragmatist". Pragmatists are concerned with privacy to the extent they are exposed to database marketing activities. The South African database marketing industry is still in its infancy phase and as the industry progress, and consumers become more knowledgeable, privacy concerns are likely to increase. It is important to address the issues that raise consumer privacy concerns and to find solutions for ensuring sustainable database marketing practice in future. Marketers' information needs and consumers' privacy needs should somehow be balanced in order to withhold government intervention. Compromises from both sides are necessary to reach a more balanced relationship between the two parties. The successful outcome of the privacy debate will depend on marketers' understanding of consumer privacy issues and by addressing these accordingly.Several approaches exist for regulating database marketing practices that invade consumer privacy: the implementation of information technology, self-regulation and government intervention. Self-regulation is preferred for regulating database marketing practices, whereas privacy-enhancing information technology is recommended as a supplemental tool for protecting consumer privacy. Government regulating seems to be the last resort because of unnecessary restrictions that might be imposed on database marketing activities. Recommended models for regulating database marketing activities and for protecting consumer privacy in South Africa are the Registration Model, together with elements of the Data Commissioner Model. These models were proposed after careful consideration of characteristics, unique to the South African database marketing industry. The models place the responsibility for data protection with the database marketer and the South African government, rather than with the consumer. The Registration Model and the Data Commissioner Model seems a viable combination for implementation in South Africa because these models acknowledge the fact that South African pragmatic consumers are not well educated and informed enough on privacy invading database marketing practices. This combination rarely involves any consumer participation and therefore suits the typical apathetic nature of South African consumers. The Registration Model acts like a notice system where an agency, currently the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa, develops principles of fair information practices to which registered marketers need to comply with. A commission, an element of the Data Commissioner Model, has power to investigate consumer complaints, constrain development of databases, review data practices and advise on improvements on data collectors' systems. The commission could also monitor advancements in information technology that may enhance consumer privacy. The only problem with these models seems to be that the agency and or the commission have no authoritative power to enforce compliance with principles and codes of conduct. Industry self-regulation in conjunction with some governmental control and the application of information technology seems to be useful in providing adequate levels of consumer privacy and data protection. Such a combination might strike a balance between South African consumers' need for privacy and South African marketers' need for consumer information.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die verskynsels in die bemarkingsindustrie oor die afgelope dekade is die toenemende gebruik van databasisbemarking. Databasisbemarking behels die insameling, prosessering en verspreiding van groot hoeveelhede verbruikersinligting met die doelom gedetailleerde verbruikersdatabasisse saam te stel. Die toenemende gewildheid van databasisbemarking kan toegeskryf word aan verskeie faktore. Inligtingstegnologie maak dit baie makliker, goedkoper en vinniger om verbruikersinligting te bekom. Dit raak al hoe makliker om verbruikersmarkte te segmenteer en dit is moontlik om verbruikers tendense te identifiseer. Voorspellings kan ook gemaak word ten opsigte van verbruikersgedrag en aankooppatrone omdat die omvang van inligting in verbruikersdatabasisse strek vanaf demografiese, psigografiese tot lewenstylinligting en daarom 'n baie meer volledige verbruikersprofiel bied. Databasistegnologie verbeter die doeltreffendheid en effektiwiteit van bemarkingsveldtogte omdat bemarkers beskikbare inligting kan analiseer en die mees gepaste bemarkingstrategieë en taktieke kan selekteer, terwyl programme gerig kan word op die mees winsgewinde verbruiker. Bemarkers sal dus minder moeite, geld en ander hulpbronne vermors deurdat bemarkingsprogramme nie gerig word op individue wat heel waarskynlik nie op sulke aanbiedinge sal reageer nie. Omvangryke databasisse help bemarkers om goedkoper produkte te bied wat meer presies ontwerp is op kleiner, meer homogene marksegmente te dien. Verbeterde produk en diens aanbiedinge tesame met die beskikbaarheid van 'n wyer verskeidenheid van produkte en dienste, sal heel waarskynlik hoër verbruikersatisfaksie tot gevolg hê en kan verbruikerslojaliteit bewerkstellig. Dus, bemarkers gebruik verbruikersinligting om die algehele bemarkingstrategie en individuele diens aan verbruikers te verbeter. Verbruikers het belang by databasis bemarkingspraktyke omdat verbruikers glo dat sommige data praktyke inbreuk maak op persoonlike privaatheid. Die behoefte aan privaatheid was nog altyd inherent aan die menslike natuur en die konsep van privaatheid dateer terug tot vroeë beskawings. Daar behoort egter 'n onderskeid getref te word tussen 'n individu se basiese behoefte aan privaatheid vanuit 'n algemene perspektief en privaatheid vanaf 'n verbruiker-bemarker konteks. Privaatheid, vanaf 'n algemene perspektief, verwys na 'n individu se persoonlike ruimte en die behoefte aan fisiese afsondering, teenoor verbruikersprivaatheid wat hoofsaaklik verband hou met die privaatheid van persoonlike inligting. Bennett, sowel as Stone en Stone het voorgestel dat 'n mate van privaatheid heers wanneer 'n verbruiker beheer het oor sosiale interaksies, ongewenste eksterne prikkels, die verspreiding van persoonlike inligting, sowel as om in staat te wees om onafhanklike besluite te neem sonder invloed van buite. Verbruikers se behoefte aan privaatheid is egter in konflik met die behoefte aan sosiale interaksie en die behoefte om deel te neem aan kommersiële transaksies. Hoe meer 'n persoon in wisselwerking tree met ander lede van die gemeenskap, hoe meer kan die persoon verwag om 'n mate van privaatheid op te offer. Dit impliseer dat wanneer verbruikers deelneem in 'n besigheidstransaksie of waar 'n ruilverhouding bestaan tussen die databasisbemarker en verbruiker, kan verbruikers verwag dat 'n mate van privaatheid verlore sal gaan. Verbruikers kan 'n redelike mate van privaatheid verwag, maar verbruikersgroepe argumenteer dat sommige bemarkingspraktyke inbreuk maak op hierdie redelike verwagting van privaatheid. Die toenemende verbruikersbelang by privaatheid is toeskryfbaar aan verskeie redes. Die primêre dryfkrag agter verbruikers se belang is die algemene gebrek aan kennis oor data insameling en gebruik. Ander redes wat bydrae tot die toenemende belang by privaatheid sluit in die tipe inligting ingesamel en die hoeveelheid beheer verbruikers het oor die daaropeenvolgende gebruik van data; die gebruik van persoonlike inligting om spesifieke individue te identifiseer; die insameling en gebruik van sensitiewe inligting, soos byvoorbeeld mediese en finansiële data; die hoeveelheid inligting wat ingesamel en gebruik word; sekondêre gebruik van inligting; die gebruik en verspreiding van onakkurate databasisse; en die insameling en gebruik van verbruikersinligting om finansieël voordeel daaruit te trek. Verbruikers het ook belang getoon teenoor elektroniese databasis bemarkingspraktyke as gevolg van die geheimhouding oor data insameling en gebruik. Die belang by privaatheid mag egter varieër afhangende van verbruikers se kulturele oriëntasie, ouderdom, persepsie van wat goeie bemarkingsetiek behels of die spesifieke metodes gebruik om data aangaande verbruikers te bekom. Daar kan onderskei word tussen verskeie verbruikersgroepe wanneer verbruikershoudings teenoor databasis bemarkingspraktyke en persoonlike privaatheid oorweeg word. In hierdie verband kan die tipiese Suid-Afrikaanse verbruiker geklassifiseer word as 'n pragmatis. Pragmatiste is besorg oor privaatheid tot die mate waartoe hulle blootgestel is aan databasisbemarkingsaktiwiteite. Die Suid-Afrikaanse databasis industrie is nog in die beginfase en soos die industrie groei en verbruikers meer ingelig raak, sal besorgdheid oor privaatheid heelwaarskynlik ook toeneem. Dit is belangrik om die kwessies wat besorgdheid oor verbruikersprivaatheid veroorsaak aan te spreek en om oplossings te vind om volhoubare databasisbemarkingspraktyke in die toekoms te verseker. Daar moet gepoog word om bemarkers se behoefte aan inligting en verbruikers se behoefte aan privaatheid in ewewig te bring om sodoende owerheidsinmenging te voorkom. Opofferings van beide partye is nodig om 'n meer gebalanseerde verhouding tussen die twee partye te bewerkstellig. Die suksesvolle uitkoms van die privaatheidsdebat sal afhang van bemarkers se begrip vir verbruikersprivaatheidskwessies en om dit dienooreenkomstig aan te spreek. Die regulering van databasisbemarkingspraktyke wat inbreuk maak op verbruikersprivaatheid kan verskillend benader word: die implementering van inligtingstegnologie, self-regulering en owerheids-inmenging. Self-regulering word verkies as basis om databasisbemarkingspraktyke te reguleer, terwyl privaatheids-bevorderende inligtingstegnologie aanbeveel word as bykomende gereedskap om verbruikersprivaatheid te beskerm. Owerheidsregulering word gesien as die laaste uitweg as gevolg van onnodige beperkinge wat dit mag plaas op databasisbemarkingsaktiwitei te. Die voorgestelde modelle vir die regulering van databasis bemarkingsaktiwiteite en vir die beskerming van verbruikersprivaatheid in Suid Afrika, is die Registrasie Model, tesame met elemente van die Data Kommissaris Model. Hierdie modelle is voorgestel nadat eienskappe, uniek aan die Suid Afrikaanse databasisbemarkingsindustrie, deeglik oorweeg IS. Die modelle plaas die verantwoordelikheid van data beskerming in die hande van die databasisbemarker en die Suid-Afrikaanse owerheid, eerder as by die verbruiker. Die Registrasie Model en die Data Kommissaris Model blyk 'n uitvoerbare kombinasie vir implementering in Suid Afrika te wees, omdat hierdie modelle die feit inagneem dat Suid Afrikaanse pragmatiese verbruikers nie goed genoeg opgevoed en ingelig is oor die databasisbemarkingsaktiwiteite wat inbreuk maak op privaatheid nie. Hierdie kombinasie behels selde verbruikersdeelname en is daarom gepas by die tipiese apatiese aard van Suid Afrikaanse verbruikers. Die Registrasie Model dien as 'n kennisgee-stelsel waar 'n agentskap, tans die Direkte Bemarkings Assosiasie van Suid Afrika, beginsels vir regverdige inligtingspraktyke ontwikkel waaraan geregistreerde databasisbemarkers moet voldoen. 'n Kommissie, 'n element van die Data Kommissaris Model, het mag om verbruikersklagtes te ondersoek, die ontwikkelling van databasisse aan bande te lê en om datapraktyke te hersien en advies te gee oor verbeteringe in die stelsels van data-insamelaars. Die kommissie kan ook ontwikkelinge in inligtingstegnologie wat verbruikersprivaatheid bevorder, monitor. Die enigste probleem met hierdie modelle blyk te wees dat die agenstkap en die kommissie geen gesag het om te verseker dat beginsels en kodes van goeie gedrag afgedwing word nie. Industrie self-regulering, tesame met 'n mate van owerheidsbeheer en die implementering van inligtingstegnologie blyk nuttig te wees om voldoende vlakke van verbruikers-privaatheid en data beskerming te verseker. Dié kombinasie kan moontlik 'n balans vind tussen Suid Afrikaanse verbruikers se behoefte aan privaatheid en Suid Afrikaanse bemarkers se behoefte aan verbruikersinligting.

Changes to the technological landscape of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK have often raised debates on information privacy and patient confidentiality. This has been especially pertinent in the context of HIV health services, where patient records have been historically segregated from hospital notes to protect confidentiality and account for the nature of the condition as a stigmatised terminal illness. However, as current anti-retroviral treatment extends life expectancy, HIV is increasingly managed in ways similar to other chronic conditions and integrated patient management has been proposed as best practice. This shift offers a unique opportunity to study reconfigurations of privacy and confidentiality practices from the perspective of data users. This thesis focuses on a technological integration project between the stand-alone systems used in two HIV specialist outpatient centres and the centralised Electronic Patient Records (EPR) of their respective NHS Hospital Trusts. The case study methodology draws on 46 semi-structured interviews with health and IT professionals, supplemented by an analysis of organisational documents and observation of work practices over a period of six months in the two clinics. In weaving together different theoretical concepts, this thesis contributes to an in-depth, empirically informed understanding of privacy and confidentiality practices in healthcare. Firstly, by looking at how HIV practitioners cultivate their professional identities at the intersection of general medical and HIV-specific confidentiality, this thesis argues that identity work is an important component in the reconfiguration of privacy practices. Secondly, this research draws attention to the role of political negotiations for privacy change, as HIV professionals and EPR developers came in conflict over the ethics of the technological integration project in the hospitals studied here. Thirdly, this thesis illustrates how confidentiality practices are shaped within the co-construction of information infrastructures and medical work, especially in relation to HIV normalisation. A number of implications for practice and policy also emerge from this study.

Il legislatore Europeo ha lavorato per anni per definire il concetto di sicurezza legato ai dati personali, definendo questa materia come Protezione dei Dati Personali. La Carta dei Diritti Fondamentali dell’Unione Europea, infatti, all'art. 8 garantisce ad ogni persona il diritto alla protezione dei dati di carattere personale che la riguardano. Così, con il continuo avanzare delle tecnologie informatiche il legislatore europeo ha deciso di adottare un Regolamento che si applica a tutte le persone presenti nell'Unione Europea e che per sua natura non necessita di alcun atto di recepimento da parte degli Stati membri: il Reg. UE 2016/679 (GDPR). Il Regolamento Generale sulla Protezione dei Dati è stato pubblicato nella Gazzetta Ufficiale dell’Unione europea il 4 Maggio 2016 e la sua applicazione decorreva dal 25 Maggio 2018. Questo regolamento si occupa nello specifico di focalizzare l’attenzione del titolare del trattamento e del responsabile del trattamento sull'importante questione della sicurezza riguardante la protezione dei dati con il fine ultimo di permettere all'interessato, i cui dati personali sono oggetto di trattamento, di veder rispettati i propri diritti. Il seguente elaborato si occupa di fornire una panoramica riguardante il Regolamento Generale sulla Protezione dei Dati, fornendo prima una descrizione di tutti gli aspetti importanti per capire meglio il contesto del regolamento (dati, privacy, sicurezza) per poi descrivere la normativa ed una serie di aspetti pratici per la sua applicazione, con particolare focus per i siti web.

Consumers have begun to take a more proactive approach to their healthcare by accessing pharmaceutical companies Websites to obtain health and drug information, support groups, rebates, coupons, as well as free drug trials. In exchange for these benefits, companies require consumers to voluntarily disclose information. However, research has shown that consumers continue to be concerned about how their information is managed, used, and distributed by companies, especially if accessed via the Web. To date, there has been limited empirical research to examine the actual online practices of companies when it comes to privacy, especially those of pharmaceutical companies. Using Delphi expert panel process, the components of a benchmarking index were identified to examine the documented and actual online practices of 100 Website registrations with pharmaceutical companies. The evolution for the development of an index to measure the personal information privacy violations of pharmaceutical companies is presented. Second, empirical evidence is provided regarding the magnitude of voluntary adherence to the Fair Information Practices (FIPs) by pharmaceutical companies based upon the personal information privacy violations. The results revealed that companies with headquarters in Europe had fewer personal information privacy violations than those in Asia, UK, and the US. Moreover, the results indicate that fewer personal information privacy violations occur for chronic conditions than for non-chronic conditions, as well as fewer violations occur with Website registrations for updates than for discounts. Finally, both Europe and UK demonstrated more overall adherence to FIPs than the US and Asia. This suggests that self-regulation may not be sufficient, while more enforcement may be necessary to decrease personal information privacy violations.

The article hypothesises that the opposition of ‘publicity/privacy’ concepts (alongside with other fundamental dichotomies, e.g. spiritual/material, social/individual, political/personal) in the media era, and first of all in the era of the Internet together with related communicative resources, is no longer productive. The study was performed via discursive analysis since it concerns methods of making use of the original concepts of ‘publicity’ and ‘privacy’. The author also addresses media survey methods since it is a contemporary media context that guides changes in the balance between the concerned phenomena. The deconstruction method is also important since the theatre institution itself, on the example of which the phenomenon of the interpenetration of the public and the private is examined, is deconstructed and shadowed by absolutely new theatrical practices. The culturological approach is the paradigmal prism through which the declared topic is researched, since the study goal is to demonstrate how ‘current’ (Z. Bauman) changes of the modern cultural landscape change habitual ideas on some or other dichotomies, particularly the dichotomy of ‘publicity/private’. The aforementioned research tools were used in the study to address theatrical practices explicitly demonstrating the removal of the dichotomy of public and private. A closer look was taken at the play ‘Questioning’ staged by the contemporary Petersburg theatre Pop-up, and where invasion of publicity into the area of privacy and intimity, and exposition of aspects taken out from ultimate existential depths constitutes the very essence of the play. The article concludes that such theatrical practices can take place when the cultural horizon is extended to enable the attribution of a new semantic scope, in particular ‘forced publicness’ (E. Shulman).

This policy brief reviews the evolution of knowledge-to-policy studies and the emergence of systems perspectives. We explore the less well understood issue of how to grow and reinforce knowledge systems in settings where they are weak and underdeveloped. We offer a knowledge systems model that encapsulates current thinking and present an example of an effort to strengthen a knowledge system, drawn from a project managed by RTI in Indonesia. We conclude with some recommendations for strengthening knowledge systems including promoting debate among a diversity of voices within the knowledge system, providing sustained stakeholder commitment to the systems approach, investing in the components of the knowledge system as well as the interaction between components, fostering a balance between government mechanisms and space for civil society perspectives, and exploring how knowledge systems can engage the private sector. We conclude with suggestions for applying the knowledge systems model in new country contexts including use of a political economy analysis as well as gauging readiness of government actors, research institutes, and media to engage.

Since April 2016, The European Union and the Oxfam Pro-Resilience Action Project in Kebbi and Adamawa States, Nigeria, have supported poor smallholder rural farmers to improve their agricultural productivity. The project has a specific focus on increasing crop yields per hectare for better land usage, as well as ensuring farmers possess the skills they need to maintain good agricultural practices, such as inputs utilization and climate mitigation strategies, as well as an information-sharing system on weather and market prices. The project uses a Farmer Field School model that continues to serve as a viable platform for rural farmers to access hands-on skills and basic modern farming knowledge and techniques. The case studies presented here demonstrate a significant increase in farmers’ productivity, income and resilience. This approach should be emulated by governments and private sector players to achieve impact at scale in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, which is the country’s top non-oil revenue stream.