20.5. ConclusionThe goal of my work was to define and analyze some privacy-related concepts that others have touched upon but that have never been systematically examined. I have defined what we mean by a privacy solution and used a grounded approach called feature analysis to examine the privacy-related features of solutions. On a grander scale, I have bounded the privacy space and suggested a model for how users can think about the privacy solutions that make up that space, as well as the features of which they themselves consist. More theoretically, this work has led to new terminology, most importantly the idea of exoinformation, which gives us a succinct way to relate the concept of information leakage when we talk about important privacy matters.
Can the quest for the optimal privacy package continue? We now have some techniques and terminology to use to get us closer to that goal. Novel user interface mechanisms must evolve to help users recognize and control exoinformation. We may not achieve the fine granularity of control we desire, but at this stage, the simple ability to have on or off enforcement would be a welcome new development. |