Five propositions underpin CPM theory (Petronio and Durham 2008). The first
proposition is that private information is defined in terms of ownership in that when
people believe the information belongs to them, they count it as private. The second
is that because they define private information as something they own, they therefore
believe they have the right to control the distribution of that information (Petronio
and Reierson 2009). The third is that people develop and use privacy rules, based on
personally important criteria, to control the flow of private information. These rules
impact the management of individual and collective (i.e., dyadic and group) privacy
boundaries. Individual privacy rules are based on cultural values, gendered orientations,
motivational needs, contextual impact, and risk-benefit ratio criteria. The
fourth is that once private information becomes shared, a collective privacy boundary
is formed and others receiving private information become co-owners of that
information. From the perspective of the original owner, co-owners have fiduciary
responsibilities to manage and therefore jointly control this private information in a
way that is consistent with the original owner’s rule. Privacy rule coordination
between the original owner and co-owner is negotiated and revolves around
decisions about permeability, co-ownership responsibilities, and linkage rules.
Linkage rules determine who else can know (become a co-owner of) the information.
Permeability rules determine how much others can know about the information.
Ownership rules determine how much control co-owners have over co-owned
information. (For an instrument to measure these three factors, see Child et al. 2009.)
These rules might be implicit (e.g., based on a person’s assumption that the other
person has learned the requisite rules/norms) or explicit because of a need to clarify
or modify an existing rule or to introduce/negotiate a new rule (Child et al 2009;
Petronio 2002). These privacy rules are dynamic: they change, grow, or remain
stable for periods (Petronio 2002).