隐私的核心不在于是否有人知道，而在于在什么时间和场合，让谁知道。个人信息控制权就是个人空间和生活不被窥探、窃取、跟踪、记录、挖掘、传播和曝光的权利。一般人即便踏入公共场合，隐私权也不必然尽失，而是看其具有怎样的合理隐私期待。网络时代，要区分公共媒体（或称大众媒体、社会媒体）和以社交网络个人主页为代表的自媒体，前者旨在服务公众，后者旨在服务用户个人，目的在于展现自我，尤其是与熟人实现互动。因此，用户对于社交网络可能存在完全不同程度的合理隐私期待，社交网络服务商则对之负有安全保障义务。
The essence of privacy does not lie in the seclusion from others，but in the choice of the time，place and person to whom to disclose. The right to personal information is the right of protecting personal space and life from spying，theft，tracking，digging，spreading and exposure. The right to privacy may not disappear even if a person enters a public place，what counts is the degree of reasonable privacy expectation. In cyberspace age，it’s necessary to distinguish mass media and social media，the former is aimed to serve the public，while the latter is designed to serve individuals’ presentation. The user may have reasonable privacy expectations of different degrees to social networking，therefore the service provider has duty of security.
