GT: Do you think those advertisements and services that are tailored for personal preferences are good or bad? Can we find a way to balance Internet privacy protection and these specialized services? Do you think the solution to Internet privacy protection and application should be a technical one or a legal one?

Acquisti: I think that the targeted ads and services are neither good nor bad in theory. It's only in practice that you can measure whether they are either advantageous or not to consumers, that is, whether the benefits outweigh the potential costs, be they tangible or intangible.

And yes, there are ways to gain the benefits of targeted ads without having to reveal everything about yourself. It goes back to the issue of privacy enhancing technologies, but technology does not necessarily work without the proper economic incentives and an adequate regulatory framework.

GT: How will the dispute affect social networks' future development? China's social networks almost all adopt the pattern of US social networks, but in China website companies' violations of individual privacy haven't raised public attention. Will the dispute in the US change China's social networks' development?

Acquisti: This is a very interesting issue. How innovation in global information technologies is shaped by, or rather shapes, the cultures that adopt those technologies.

By using Facebook, will Chinese users eventually take an approach to privacy and information disclosure that is more similar to US users, or will Facebook adapt to the Chinese market and adopt some of its customs? I do not think we have an answer yet, but it is a very good issue to think about.