Abstract:
Posting privacy policies has become a popular practice with businesses as they seek to shield themselves from potential liability or regulation, as well as inform users about their privacy and rights. These policies are in many ways modeled after software license statements, and are often more legalistic than user friendly. This paper examines the current practice of privacy policies as fair warning hold up from a usability perspective, and what steps can be taken to ensure that the average user can protect their privacy online.

Keywords: Privacy policy, readability, informed consent, fair information practices, Digital Divide, vulnerable populations, Internet demographics

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