As policy-makers in various countries have turned to devising policy in the relatively unfamiliar terrain of telephone privacy, it is evident that they have done so with little empirical evidence concerning the relevant perceptions and behaviours of residential telephone users. We have two objectives. First, focusing on the US context, we seek to build on the little empirical work that has been done on these users' perceptions and behaviours regarding telephone privacy. Second, we discuss the implications of our analysis for policy deliberations. Emphasis is placed on the need to construct appropriate public education campaigns that can aid in reducing the gulf between privacy concerns expressed by telecommunication privacy experts and those expressed by residential users.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Austel Privacy Advisory Committee1996, Calling Number Display, Austel, Melbourne
2.
BurnsRobertSamarajivaRohanMukherjeeRoopali1992, Utility Customer Information: Privacy and Competitive Implications, National Regulatory Research Institute, Columbus, Ohio
3.
DervinBrenda1989a, ‘Users as Research Inventions: How Research Categories Perpetuate Inequities’, Journal of Communication, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 216–32
4.
DervinBrenda1989b, ‘Audience as Listener and Learner, Teacher and Confidante: The Sense-making Approach’, in RiceR.AtkinsC., (eds), Public Communication Campaigns, Sage, Newbury Park
5.
DuttonWilliamMeadowRobert1986, ‘A Tolerance for Surveillance: American Public Opinion Concerning Privacy and Civil Liberties’, in LevitanK.B. (ed.). Government Infrastructure, Greenwood Press, New York
6.
GandyOscar H.Jr1993, The Panoptic Sort: A Political Economy of Personal Information, Westview Press, Boulder
7.
GoldmanJanlori1992, ‘Why Cater to Luddites’, New York Times, 27 March, p. A35
8.
GoiebCalvin1996, ‘Privacy: A Concept Whose Time has Come and Gone’, in LyonD.ZureikE. (eds), Computers, Surveillance and Privacy, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
9.
GrahamStephenCornfordJamesMarvinSimon1996, ‘The Socio-economic Benefits of a Universal Telephone Network: A Demand-side View of Universal Service’, Telecommunications Policy, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 3–10
HarrisLouis1993, Harris-Equifax Health Information Privacy Survey, 1993, Equifax Inc, Atlanta
12.
HoffmanLance1995, Building in Big Brother, Springer-Verlag, New York
13.
KatzJames E.1990, ‘Caller-ID, Privacy and Social Processes’, Telecommunications Policy, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 373–411
14.
KatzJames E.1991, ‘Public Concerns Over Privacy: The Phone is the Focus’, Telecommunications Policy, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 166–68
15.
KatzJames E.1996, ‘Understanding Communication Privacy: Unlisted Telephone Subscribers in the United States’, The Information Society, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 407–30
16.
KatzJames E.HymanMerton1993, ‘Dimensions of Concern over Telecommunications Privacy in the United States’, The Information Society, no. 9, pp. 251–75
17.
MelodyWilliam H.1990, ‘Communication Policy in the Global Information Economy: Whither the Public Interest?’, in FergusonM. (ed.), Public Communication: The New Imperatives, Sage, Beverley Hills
18.
MukherjeeRoopaliSamarajivaRohan1996, ‘Regulating “Caller ID”: Emulation and Learning in the Policy Process’, Telecommunications Policy, vol. 20, no. 7, pp. 531–45
19.
ReganPrescilla M.1995, Legislating Privacy: Technology, Social Values, and Public Policy, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill
20.
RotenbergMarc1993, ‘Communication Privacy: Implications for Network Design’, Communications of the ACM, vol. 36, no. 8, pp. 61–68
21.
RugglesMyles1992, ‘Telecommunications Privacy: Conflict in Control of Personal Information Flows and Boundaries’, Submission to Austel Inquiry Into the Privacy Implications of Telecommunications Services, Centre for International Research on Communications and Information Technologies, Melbourne
22.
SamarajivaRohan1994, ‘Privacy in Electronic Public Space: Emerging Issues’, Canadian Journal of Communication, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 87–99
23.
SamarajivaRohan1996, ‘Surveillance by Design’, in MansellR.E.SilverstoneR. (eds), Communication by Design, Oxford University Press, London
24.
SamarajivaRohanShieldsPeter1992, ‘Emergent Institutions of the “Intelligent Network”: Toward a Theoretical Understanding’, Media, Culture and Society, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 397–419
25.
SamarajivaRohan1997, ‘Telecommunication Networks as Social Spaces: Implications for Research and Policy and an Exemplar’, Media, Culture and Society, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 535–55
26.
ScottWilliam A.1955, ‘Reliability in Content Analysis: The Case of Nominal Scale Coding’, Public Opinion Quarterly, no. 19, pp. 321–25
27.
ShieldsPeterDervinBrendaRichterChristopherSollerRichard1993, ‘Who Needs ‘POTS-Plus’ Services? A Comparison of Residential User Needs Along the Rural-Urban Continuum‘, Telecommunications Policy, vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 563–87
28.
StempleCuido H.1955, ‘Increasing Reliability in Content Analysis’, Journalism Quarterly, no. 19, pp. 449–55
29.
WestinAlan F.1993, ‘A Background Paper on Privacy Rights and Responsibilities in the Next Era of the Information Age’, paper presented at a conference on Designing an Information Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, Aspen, The Aspen Institute's Communication and Society Program
