“Sharing Is Caring:” Australian Self-Trackers’ Concepts and Practices of Personal Data Sharing and Privacy

Self-tracking technologies and practices offer ways of generating vast reams of personal details, raising questions about how these data are revealed or exposed to others. This article reports on findings from an interview-based study of long-term Australian self-trackers who were collecting and reviewing personal information about their bodies and other aspects of their everyday lives. Most participants did not consider the possibilities that their personal information could be distributed well-beyond these relationships by third parties for commercial purposes (or what has been termed “institutional privacy”). The findings of this study also highlight the relational and social dimensions of self-tracking and concepts of data privacy. Read More