I gave this presentation at a social media risk, privacy and governance conference. It discusses the role of privacy policies on social networking sites and provides some good practice suggestions on crafting your own privacy policy.

1. The role of a privacy policy
on social networks
Samantha Yorke
Managing Director
New Mediation Pty Ltd
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

2. Agenda
• Evolving attitudes towards privacy in the social networking
context
• What purpose does a privacy policy serve in this context?
• Opportunities for industry self regulation
• Best practices for enhancing privacy online
• Conclusion
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

3. Evolving attitudes…..
• Is privacy dead in age of social sharing?
• Social scientists note a discrepancy between declarations that
people care deeply about privacy and their actions
• Profile pruning on the rise – deleting unwanted friends,
comments and photo tags
• Deletion of social media comments part of reputation
management by young people
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

4. Privacy settings are the norm, regardless of age
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

5. 61% of teens checked
Facebook privacy
settings in last month
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

6. Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

7. Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

8. Purpose of a privacy policy on social networks?
• Privacy policies are a legal contract between a social network
operator and a user (much like the terms of use)
• They disclose how data will be collected and used on that
website
• They are typically drafted by lawyers 
• Can be rather long and terminology a little complex
• Privacy advocates criticise them as being impenetrable and
claim that nobody reads them…..
• Facebook Site Governance Vote in Dec 2012: 2.7m likes, 668,872 votes
• IAB UK survey of UK Internet users – 29% review privacy policies
• Creative and accessible methods of presenting privacy
policies…….
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

9. Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

10. Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

11. Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

12. Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

13. Opportunity for industry self-regulation
Tremendous opportunity for industry to proactively step in to do
the following;
o
o
o
o
Educate consumers
Increase transparency around data collection practices
Demonstrate responsibility
Create accountability
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

14. 7 Principles
I.
Personal Information and Third Party OBA
o
II.
Providing Clear Information to Users
o
III.
Requirement to provide a clear notice to consumers about
which data is collected, how it is collected and what it is used
for.
User choice over OBA
o
IV.
Consumers to be able to make a choice as to whether or not
they consent to the collection of data for OBA and given clear
user-friendly options to manage their Ad choices.
Keeping Data Secure
o
V.
Companies must ensure data is stored securely and is only
kept as long as it fulfills a legitimate business need or as
required by law.
Careful Handling of Sensitive Segmentation
o
o
VI.
OBA categories uniquely designed to target children under 13
will not be created
Companies seeking to use OBA in relation to Sensitive Market
Segments must obtain explicit consent
Educating Users
o
o
VII.
Companies to provide easily accessible, user-friendly
information about OBA.
A consumer education website providing consumer friendly
non technical information on OBA has been developed by
industry.
Being Accountable
o
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
Third Parties who want to combine OBA Data with Personal
Information must treat the OBA Data as if it is Personal
Information and in accordance with the Privacy Act
All businesses are accountable to uphold the principles in the
guideline, develop easily accessible mechanisms for
consumers to lodge complaints directly to companies and
commit to an ongoing review of the Guideline and its
implementation.
12 November 2013

15. Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

16. Best practices for enhancing privacy online
• Be transparent about your data collection and use practices
• Consider navigation and simplification of privacy policies
• Contextual permissioning
• Provide users with choice
• Choice about marketing
• Choice about behavioural advertising
• Consider signing up to online behavioural advertising guideline
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

17. Concluding remarks…..
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•
•
•
Attitudes towards privacy are changing
Privacy is becoming more top of mind for consumers
Transparency and choice are key principles
Promote the benefits and opportunities of new technologies
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013

18. Thank you.
Samantha Yorke
Managing Director
New Mediation Pty Ltd
samantha_yorke@hotmail.com
Social Media Risk, Privacy and Governance© 2013 New MediationPtyLimited
12 November 2013