Privileges pertains to the the user's rights to access the Empower CRM Modules and his ability to View, Create, Modify and/or Delete records in those modules.
The Administrator sets default privileges depending on Designation. Designation is set on Setup > Global Access Default. He can then modify this default per user as needed.
Default Designation are:
Account Admin - has Create, Modify, Delete View privileges on all the available modules
Creator - has Create and View privileges on all the available modules
User - has View privileges on all the available modules