Penn State Researchers Tackle Social Network Privacy Gaps

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University's College of Information Science and Technology (IST) and the University of Kansas have partnered in an effort to reduce the gap between perceived and actual privacy for users of social networks.

That gap arises when what users intend to share differs from the information that is actually made available to others.

"People don't clearly understand the boundaries of personal information versus sharing boundaries," said Dongwon Lee, associate professor at IST and principal investigator for the project, in a prepared statement.

Dubbed "Privacy Protection in Social Networks: Bridging the Gap Between User Perception and Privacy Enforcement," the project seeks to develop methods to identify those discrepancies, "design a user-centered and computationally efficient formal model of user privacy in social networks" and develop a mechanism for enforcing privacy policies, according to information released by Penn State.

In addition to infiltrating social networks to steal personal information, "hackers can connect an identity-revealing clue from [a] medical site with a publicly known identity in social media accounts, enabling them to access information that was intended to be private," according to a news release about the project.

Additionally, even users concerned about privacy and aware of possible consequences fail to take protective measures because they don't believe the risk is worth the extra vigilance, according to Lee.

Previous efforts to address the problem have relied either on technological solutions or human-oriented fixes. Lee said his project will work to combine the two approaches.

"We feel that if we take advantage of both frameworks, we'll be able to come up with a better solution," Lee said, in a Penn State news release.

Once complete, the researchers said they hope to implement their tools in a way that will allow users to more easily control their privacy, such as through an app that would work with various social media accounts.

"Hopefully, we will develop better, very vigorous underpinnings of the privacy model and a slew of technological tools to enforce this newly developed model," added Lee.

The research is being funded through a $279,154 grant to IST and a $220,162 grant to U Kansas, both from the National Science Foundation.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • From Fire TV to Signage Stick: University of Utah's Digital Signage Evolution

    Jake Sorensen, who oversees sponsorship and advertising and Student Media in Auxiliary Business Development at the University of Utah, has navigated the digital signage landscape for nearly 15 years. He was managing hundreds of devices on campus that were incompatible with digital signage requirements and needed a solution that was reliable and lowered labor costs. The Amazon Signage Stick, specifically engineered for digital signage applications, gave him the stability and design functionality the University of Utah needed, along with the assurance of long-term support.

  • digital network with glowing blue and red lines, featuring multiple red arrows shifting in different directions

    Report: Attackers Change Tactics as Ransomware Payoffs Decline

    Attackers are changing tactics as they collect less money from ransomware payoffs, according to a new report from Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm.

  • SXSW EDU

    Explore the Future of AI in Higher Ed at SXSW EDU 2025

    This March 3-6 in Austin, TX, the SXSW EDU Conference & Festival celebrates its 15th year of exploring education's most critical issues and providing a forum for creativity, innovation, and expression.

  • business leader standing confidently amid interconnected gears

    Leading Through Complexity: How Online Leaders Can Drive Digital Institutional Transformation

    Leaders charged with developing and expanding online programs at their institutions are finding themselves in increasingly complex roles, but there are a few core steps institutional leaders can take to ensure success.