Daina Stewart

CYSE 201S

Professor

February 11, 2024

The Importance of Privacy Awareness

It’s more important than ever to be aware of privacy today. People are continually creating enormous volumes of personal data due to the quick development of technology and the spread of digital platforms. All keystrokes and clicks, from social media activities to internet transactions, create a digital trail. This means that it is now crucial to understand and protect one’s privacy. Vigilance is crucial in negotiating the intricate terrain of data gathering, monitoring, and possible security breaches. Additionally, worries regarding the use and sharing of personal data without consent are heightened by the development of big data analytics and artificial intelligence. Because of this, people need to be aware of privacy restrictions, share sensitive information with prudence, and actively push for more robust data protection regulations. Only through collective awareness and action can we ensure the preservation of privacy in today’s digital age.

This topic relates to the principles of the social sciences because individuals’ decisions about what information to share online and with whom are influenced by cognitive biases, emotions, and social influences alongside the trust and social interaction put within these databases and cyberspaces. According to research in 2020 done by Epstein and Quinn, the overall hypothesis is that “Privacy literacy is shaped by traditional socio-economic factors and their impact on privacy-related behaviors” (Epstein and Quinn, 2020). The research methods used to gather all this data using personal data from multiple cities in Saudi, Arabia. The types of data collected were through comparison charts and the factor analysis/results were as stated, “Connectedness, Copyright Citizenship, and Online Privacy Concerns” being the ‘most significant variables’ within the research. The increased susceptibility of marginalized groups to cyber threats and privacy violations is a major obstacle. For example, individuals from marginalized communities may be more likely to experience identity theft, online harassment, or data discrimination due to factors such as lack of access to secure networks or targeted surveillance by state or corporate entities. Further exacerbating the threats faced by these populations are worries about privacy and cybersecurity’s intersectionality with other types of marginalization, such as racial profiling, gender-based violence, and LGBTQ+ discrimination. The study of internet privacy issues and behaviors has enormous potential to improve our understanding of society, despite these obstacles. Researchers can shed light on the complex ways that technology changes identities, institutions, and social interactions by studying how people traverse the digital world. In the end, this kind of study can help advance initiatives to support privacy rights, increase digital literacy, and create more equal and open online spaces.

Elrayah, M., & Jamil, S. (2023). Impact of Digital Literacy and Online Privacy Concerns on Cybersecurity Behaviour: The Moderating Role of Cybersecurity Awareness. International Journal of Cyber Criminology, 17(2), 166–187. https://cybercrimejournal.com/menuscript/index.php/cybercrimejournal/article/view/205/76