“Privacy and Digital Economics. An Experimental Challenge (PRIVED)”

Antonio José Morales Siles, University of  Málaga; Zvika Neeman, Tel Aviv University; José Manuel Pavía Miralles and Adriana Alventosa Baños, University of Valencia.

The goal of this project is to study mechanisms for revealing the preferences of digital users without compromising their privacy.

The digitalization of society and the popularization of smartphones has transformed economic and social relations, and has also created the problem of online user privacy because an information trail is left behind that can be used to provide a customized service but can also compromise privacy.

To date, the researchers on this project believe that theoretical models such as legislation on cookies do not resolve this problem and that the solution is not to eliminate customized services but rather to improve the mechanisms for revealing preferences.

To do so, PRIVED proposes an innovative strategy for users to be those who actively, voluntarily and consciously reveal their profile and preferences, without leaving the collection of sensitive information up to third parties.

These results could open a new window in the field of digital marketing because the users themselves would be those providing information about their profile and willingness to receive information.