This document discusses how effective privacy and security depend on governance through commons institutions rather than just technical or legal solutions. The research examines information and knowledge commons, which are institutionalized sharing of resources among groups to solve social dilemmas. Previous research has looked at knowledge, medical, and privacy commons. The current work is studying privacy/security commons through case studies to identify the informational problems, resources, community rules, and outcomes. Effective privacy/security commons can encourage practices like democratic voting, financial participation, and social networking. This contextual approach provides more understanding than just examining firms, markets or governments, but does not address extreme individual privacy or universal privacy. It also informs how artificial intelligence operating as shared infrastructure may