Privacy in new media in Israel How social networks are helping to shape the perception of privacy in Israeli society Yuval Karniel and Amit Lavie-Dinur Sammy Ofer School of Communications, Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel Abstract Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to draw a new map confronting the issue of privacy in the new media age in general, and in the State of Israel in particular. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an in-depth review based on professional literature covering the topics of privacy, new media, social networks, and Israel. The paper considers all citizens of Israel (both Jewish and non-Jewish), the vast majority (over 80 percent), however, of which are Jewish. Findings – The study has found that even though Israeli social network users may be aware of online privacy issues, their adoption of online sharing and exposure, while partly due to third person effect, is to a great extent a reflection of the Israeli collective ethos which emphasises the importance of community and emotional and material sharing. Originality/value – The study proposes a new classification of privacy exposures and violations by analyzing the nature of privacy violations inherent in the new media. The paper then discusses the unique cultural and normative manifestations of this issue in Israeli society. Keywords Privacy, Internet, Social networks, Anonymity, Collectivism, Facebook, Israel Paper type Research paper Introduction Israelis are among the world’s heaviest internet users as an estimated 74 per cent of Israel’s population use the internet, compared to 77.3 per cent in the USA[1]. Furthermore, Israelis have quickly and readily embraced the use of social networks, and namely the use of Facebook. In fact, as of August 2010, there were over 3 million Facebook users in Israel. Compared to the USA, where only 60.4 per cent of internet users belong to Facebook, no less than 85.3 per cent of Israeli internet users are Facebook members. Social networks, however, along with new technology, are not free of privacy issues. Consequently, public and legal discourse in the world and in Israel has focused on confronting the challenges facing the right to privacy in new media. The rapid technological advances in communications, among them internet access, social networks, the prevalence of cell phones with cameras and internet capabilities, and the countless surveillance cameras installed everywhere in the public sphere, have brought about major changes in our reasonable expectations of privacy and consequently in the extent of our right to privacy due to the relative ease with which personal information about ourselves and others is shared and accessed (Buchanan et al., 2007; DeCew, 1997, p. 145; Katsh, 1989)[2]. The issue of online privacy is relevant to almost every internet user. It is brought up time and time again on the media and public agenda and motivates discussions of the public’s right to privacy. In the context of new media, the focus is mainly on what The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm JICES 10,4 288 Received 14 November 2011 Revised 3 March 2012 Accepted 19 April 2012 Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society Vol. 10 No. 4, 2012 pp. 288-304 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1477-996X DOI 10.1108/14779961211285908