Tearing the Veil of Privacy Law: An Experiment on Chilling Effects and the Right to Be Forgotten

• DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2311201
• Publication Date: 2013-08-22T14:26:06Z
• Authors: Yoan Hermstrüwer; Stephan Dickert
• Keywords: Right to privacy; Tearing

Privacy law relies on the argument that consent does not entail any relevant impediments for liberty of consenting individual. Challenging this argument, we experimentally investigate whether to publication personal information in cyberspace entails self-coercion a social norm level. Our results suggest monetary benefits from constitute price people are willing accept increased compliance with norms. Providing prior option is sufficient generate chilling effects (i.e., reduction norm-deviant behavior). However, nudging towards potential publicity increase value they place privacy. We also test how default design right deletion (right be forgotten) affects and privacy valuations. Surprisingly, forgotten reduce effects. Moreover, individuals tend stick status quo permanent storage.