Comments on: Further findings from the Privacy Mirror experiment http://www.tuesdaynight.org/2009/07/25/further-findings-from-the-privacy-mirror-experiment.html spots of thoughts: ian glazer and friends rant, rave and ruminate Fri, 16 Sep 2011 00:15:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The Limits of Application Privacy Limits | Social Hacking http://www.tuesdaynight.org/2009/07/25/further-findings-from-the-privacy-mirror-experiment.html/comment-page-1#comment-15422 The Limits of Application Privacy Limits | Social Hacking Tue, 28 Jul 2009 02:19:45 +0000 http://www.tuesdaynight.org/?p=587#comment-15422 [...]  I and others have had to sort through some confusion on this topic, and I appreciate recent work by Ian Glazer to clear things up.  As you can see from my comments on Glazer’s second post [...] [...]  I and others have had to sort through some confusion on this topic, and I appreciate recent work by Ian Glazer to clear things up.  As you can see from my comments on Glazer’s second post [...]

]]> By: theharmonyguy http://www.tuesdaynight.org/2009/07/25/further-findings-from-the-privacy-mirror-experiment.html/comment-page-1#comment-15416 theharmonyguy Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:47:56 +0000 http://www.tuesdaynight.org/?p=587#comment-15416 Just saw your previous post talking about caching - my bad. But I do think it's related to application based on another experiment. In my first test case, the friend was one who had not ever authorized the privacy mirror. After that friend authorized the privacy mirror, I went back to my account and tried the privacy mirror on them again. This time, all of their info came up. Removing the application probably wouldn't have an affect, since an app developer is not notified when an application is removed and thus does not know to delete any data associated with that user. Just saw your previous post talking about caching – my bad. But I do think it’s related to application based on another experiment.

In my first test case, the friend was one who had not ever authorized the privacy mirror. After that friend authorized the privacy mirror, I went back to my account and tried the privacy mirror on them again. This time, all of their info came up.

Removing the application probably wouldn’t have an affect, since an app developer is not notified when an application is removed and thus does not know to delete any data associated with that user.

]]> By: theharmonyguy http://www.tuesdaynight.org/2009/07/25/further-findings-from-the-privacy-mirror-experiment.html/comment-page-1#comment-15415 theharmonyguy Sun, 26 Jul 2009 01:43:28 +0000 http://www.tuesdaynight.org/?p=587#comment-15415 Are you sure there's no caching going on? I tried two test cases: 1. A friend's application privacy settings basically blocked everything, and then I tried the privacy mirror on their profile. Basically nothing came up. 2. A friend's application privacy settings allowed everything, tried the privacy mirror on them, everything came up. Then I had their settings changed to basically nothing, tried the privacy mirror on them again, and saw no change from before. The app did respect profile restrictions; e.g. I removed access to certain fields for one friend, then tried the privacy mirror on my account from theirs, and the fields did not show up. Great work btw - I and a few others have some ideas for raising user awareness on these issues. Send me an e-mail if you'd like to join in the efforts. I think part of the problem lies not simply in users being unaware of how much data an app can access, but not understanding how apps work to begin with. Are you sure there’s no caching going on? I tried two test cases:

1. A friend’s application privacy settings basically blocked everything, and then I tried the privacy mirror on their profile. Basically nothing came up.
2. A friend’s application privacy settings allowed everything, tried the privacy mirror on them, everything came up. Then I had their settings changed to basically nothing, tried the privacy mirror on them again, and saw no change from before.

The app did respect profile restrictions; e.g. I removed access to certain fields for one friend, then tried the privacy mirror on my account from theirs, and the fields did not show up.

Great work btw – I and a few others have some ideas for raising user awareness on these issues. Send me an e-mail if you’d like to join in the efforts. I think part of the problem lies not simply in users being unaware of how much data an app can access, but not understanding how apps work to begin with.

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