College Essay: Communication Privacy Management Theory

Communication Privacy Management Theory
of Sandra Petronio

Review

Communication Privacy Management theory (CPM) was invented by Sandra Petronio in 2002. This theory argues that disclosure is the process by which we give or receive private information which is what people reveal. Generally speaking, CPM theory stipulates that individuals believe they own their private information and have the right to control said information. Management of private information is not necessary until others are involved. CPM does not limit an understanding of disclosure by framing it as only about the self. Instead, CPM theory points out that when management is needed, others are given co-ownership status, thereby expanding the notion of disclosing information; the theory uses the metaphor of privacy boundary to illustrate where private information is located and how the boundary expands to accommodate multiple owners of private information.

Moreover, the theory asserts that individuals create informational boundaries by carefully choosing the kind of private information they reveal and the people with whom they share it. This puts us in front of one fact which is that humans are decision takers and rules makers as well as followers of their own rules. Sandra uses the term Privacy Ownership because it contains our privacy boundaries that encompass information we have but others don’t know can range from think to thick. However, when the rules are not followed and mistakes are made, turbulence result. In other words it results when managing our private information doesn’t go the way we expected. She argues that we have the right to own and control our personal information (PI) through the use of personal privacy rules, by creating boundaries to protect or reveal PI relationship, context or characteristics.

However, because we believe we have ownership, we think we can control the flow of shared PI, but when others are given access to our private information they become co-owners and they must know the rules of disclosure. In here Sandra points out that the discloser must realize that the personal privacy boundary that seldom shrinks back to being solely personal that could only happen if the confidant were to die or suffer memory loss. People tend to feel a sense of responsibility for the information; in this situation those “in the know” may have their own interpretation of how the information should be managed. Furthermore, Sandra provides us with a theory that is called “rule-based theory” that assumes we can best understand people’s freely chosen actions if we study the system of rules they use to interpret and manage their lives.

As a conclusion, Communication Privacy Management theory has been applied in several countries and in numerous contexts where privacy management occurs, such as health, families, organizations, interpersonal relationships, and social media. This theory is unique in offering a comprehensive way to understand the relationship between the notion of disclosure and that of privacy.