The End of Privacy? Paradoxes and Dilemmas of Internet Use and Online Surveillance

Abstract

With the Internet growing in importance in our daily lives, concerns about privacy and data protection have emerged. While people worry about where they data may end up, they continue making themselves openly transparent by sharing information about themselves and their lives online. This study aims to understand the paradoxes between privacy considerations – mainly, the wish to keep individual data private and secure – and the actions that people undertake in reality. More specifically, it focuses on three paradoxes and dilemmas of privacy: age, perceived usefulness, and rewards. These will be studied by analyzing the results of a survey, in which respondents from the EU, North America and East Asia were asked about their online habits and their opinions on various security issues and privacy measures. The analysis ultimately aims to further the understanding of privacy paradoxes, and what hinders people from protecting their data sufficiently.