-> Nowadays, social network sites (SNS) such as Facebook or Twitter are ubiquitous. They increasingly develop into platforms combining many services.
-> SNS endanger privacy to a large extent as the relationships, contents and interactions displayed there can be matched to individuals.
-> The right of informational self-determination – that is the right to decide oneself about the disclosure and usage of one’s personal data – can hardly be exercised in a world characterised by SNS. In addition, this is aggravated by providers’ terms of use and business models, which favour large-scale linking-up.
-> Not least the recently discovered surveillance scandals underline the pressing need to design SNS in a privacy-enhancing manner. Privacy-by-design is essential when it comes to re-establishing the trust of the users.
Authors: Michael Nentwich, Stefan Strauß