Influence of Privacy Knowledge on Privacy Attitudes in the Domain of Location-Based Services

Abstract

In our daily life, we make extensive use of location-based services when searching for a restaurant nearby, searching for an address we want to visit, or searching for the best route to drive. Location information is highly sensitive personal information that users share without the awareness of being continuously tracked by various apps on their smartphones or smart devices. Privacy knowledge and overall privacy literacy facilitate gaining control over sharing personal information and adjusting privacy settings online. This research examines the influence of privacy literacy on privacy attitudes in the domain of location-based services. Hereby, privacy literacy is measured through four dimensions by asking the participants about various aspects of knowledge about institutional practices, technical aspects of data protection, data protection law, privacy policies, and also about possible data protection strategies. The overall privacy literacy score is examined in relation to various privacy attitudes such as tolerance of sharing personal information, perceived intrusion when using location-based services, and their perceived benefits. Overall, 155 participants took part in the questionnaire. A significant difference can be found between the overall privacy literacy score between German participants and those from other countries with German participants having a higher privacy literacy score. Furthermore, privacy literacy positively correlates with trust in the GDPR, and also with privacy concern about the secondary use of location information. Indicating, that the higher the privacy literacy level is, the more concerned participants seem to be.