This desire is reflected by the fact that digital

This desire is reflected by the fact that digital music services allow users to shape the setting
from which they consume their music to match their own listening preferences. However, as
new and diverse possibilities emerge for the personalization of musical information within
streaming applications and services, it increases the risk to personal privacy.
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Privacy issues and personalization
Proactive specification of the user ’ s products and services is called “ customization ” ( Li and
Unger, 2012 ). This uniquely shaped online environment serves as a digital fingerprint that
might be exploited by external parties in order to expose users ’ identities ( Mayer, 2009 ;
Eckersley, 2010 ). One of the most common methods for online surveillance is the tracking
cookie. Cookies were initially developed to allow users to revisit websites without the need to
identify themselves and their preferences each time. However, in subsequent years cookies
have been used in other ways, including in personalization processes ( Millett et al. , 2001 ).
Personalization is used many times by commercial entities, offering customers products and
services that best suit them, based on previously collected data ( Li and Unger, 2012 ). This
method may benefit both the consumer and the vendor; however, cookies that enable
personalization might also be used in ways that invade users ’ privacy, for example, third-
party websites use cookies to create user profiles without their knowledge and track users ’
online activities ( Millett et al. , 2001 ; Milne, 2000 ).
As customization and personalization are closely related terms and particularly in relation
to privacy issues, in this work, both will be referred to as “ personalization. ”
Past research showed that even though personalization has a positive effect, privacy
concerns negatively affect users ’ intention to use it ( Awad and Krishnan, 2006 ; Chellappa and
Sin, 2005 ). However, it seems that the impact of these concerns may be limited, as users may
relinquish their personal privacy, in return for the various benefits gained from using
personalized services ( Hann et al. , 2002 ). The trade-off between online personalization and
privacy protection is a widely explored topic in the context of electronic commerce ( Awad and
Krishnan, 2006 ; Li and Unger, 2012 ; Xu et al. , 2011 ). Many studies that explored this topic
came to the conclusion that in order for the users to agree to online personalization, its
benefits must outweigh the potential risks to their privacy (e.g. Awad and Krishnan, 2006 ;
Chellappa and Sin, 2005 ; Sheng et al. , 2008 ). Nevertheless, users ’ preference in this trade-off
remains inconsistent. As Awad and Krishnan (2006) found, privacy concerns significantly
affect users ’ agreement to personalized advertising. Also, Turow et al. (2009) found that most
Americans do not want marketers to personalize their advertisements according to their
interests. However, Xu et al. (2011) found that personalization could, in some cases, overcome
users ’ privacy concerns. Likewise, Li and Unger (2012) found that the acceptance of
personalization can overcome privacy concerns as long as it is perceived by the user as high
standard.