People Can Be So Fake: A New Dimension to Privacy and Technology Scholarship

49 Pages Posted: 24 Aug 2009 Last revised: 28 Feb 2014

See all articles by Ryan Calo

Ryan Calo

University of Washington - School of Law; Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society; Yale Law School Information Society Project

Date Written: August 27, 2009

Abstract

This article updates the traditional discussion of privacy and technology, focused since the days of Warren and Brandeis on the capacity of technology to manipulate information. It includes a novel dimension around the impact to privacy of anthropomorphic or social design.

Technologies designed to emulate people - through voice, animation, and natural language - are increasingly commonplace, showing up in our cars, computers, phones, and homes. A rich literature in communications and psychology suggests that we are hardwired to react to such technology as though a person were actually present. Social interfaces accordingly capture our attention and improve interactivity, and can free up our hands for other tasks.

At the same time, technologies that emulate people have the potential to implicate long-standing privacy values. One of the well-documented effects of interfaces and devices that emulate people is the sensation of being observed and evaluated. Their presence can alter our attitude, behavior, and physiological state. Widespread adoption of such technology may accordingly lessen opportunities for solitude and chill curiosity and self-development. These effects are all the more dangerous in that they cannot be addressed through traditional privacy protections such as encryption or anonymization.

The unique properties of social technology also present an opportunity to improve privacy, particularly online. Careful use of anthropomorphic design might one day replace today’s ineffective privacy policies with a direct, visceral notice that lines up our experience with actual information practice.

Keywords: privacy, technology, notice, cyberlaw, design, anonymity

Suggested Citation

Calo, Ryan, People Can Be So Fake: A New Dimension to Privacy and Technology Scholarship (August 27, 2009). Penn State Law Review, Vol. 114, No. 3, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1458637

Ryan Calo (Contact Author)

University of Washington - School of Law ( email )

William H. Gates Hall
Box 353020
Seattle, WA 98105-3020
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.law.washington.edu/directory/profile.aspx?ID=713

Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society ( email )

559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
United States

Yale Law School Information Society Project ( email )

127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
United States

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