Abstract

In the digital media environment, privacy issues are becoming more important than ever, and individual’s privacy concerns are increasing. However, the definition of privacy remains unclear and limited empirical research has been conducted. In particular, limited research has investigated the types of privacy from consumers’ perspective. To address this gap in the literature, the present study defines the meaning of privacy in the digital media environment, including various types of personal information based on perceived privacy, and to classify personal information types. Results showed that there are four types of personal information people perceive: digital footprint information, digital life information, demographic information, and self-expression information. Perceived privacy for digital life information was the highest, and it was also most strongly correlated with privacy concerns, while perceived privacy for demographics was the lowest, and weakly correlated with privacy concerns. In addition, perceived privacy for each type of personal information differed depending on gender and age. These findings enhance the understanding of the meaning of privacy from the individual’s point of view, and provide more specific guidelines for government and corporate to solve privacy problems.