Caring about Sharing: User Perceptions of Multiparty Data Sharing

Data sharing between companies is typically regarded as one-size-fits-all in practice and in research. For instance, the main source of information available to users about how a company shares their data is privacy policies. Privacy policies use ambiguous terms such as ‘third-parties’ and ‘partners’ with regard to who data is shared with. In the real-world, data sharing has more nuance than is captured by these overarching terms. We investigate whether users perceive different data sharing scenarios differently through an online survey with scenarios that describe specific types of multiparty data sharing practices. We determine users’ perceptions when explicitly presented with how their data is shared, who it is shared with, and why. We show that users have preferences and that variations in acceptability exist which depend on the nature of the data sharing collaboration. Users caring about sharing, necessitates more transparent sharing practices and regulations.