As for privacy, we are 'info-egoists'

A new study has pointed out that people are info-egoists when it comes to their privacy.

The Penn State researchers found that people are much more concerned about sharing their own private information with third-party app developers than they are about revealing their friends' data.

However, as social media makes data increasingly interconnected, preserving one's own privacy while ignoring the privacy rights of others may make everybody's data more vulnerable, said researcher Jens Grossklags.

Grossklags added that the problem is becoming known as interdependent privacy and the privacy of individual consumers does not only depend on their own decisions, but is also affected by the actions of others.

Considering that people who are on social networks have, on average, more than 300 friends, the researchers investigated what value people place on each of their friends' privacy and, it turns out they place very little value on their friends' privacy, said Yu Pu.

The study has been released at the International Conference on Information Systems in Fort Worth, Texas.