Internet Privacy Management and Digital Inequalities among Older Internet Users

General information

Code: J5-60096
Period: 1.1.2025 - 31.12.2027
Range on year: 1.31 FTE | 2025
Project leader at FDV: izr.prof.dr. Andraž Petrovčič
Research activity: Social sciences

Abstract

Project Background

To ensure an inclusive and safe digital society for all segments of the population, addressing issues of internet privacy is crucial. Privacy is important for individuals’ well-being, dignity and autonomy; by extension, it also supports democratic processes. In online environments, users’ ability to manage their internet privacy is strongly related to the three levels (access, skills and uses, outcomes) of digital inequalities. Older internet users (i.e. users aged 65+), who represent increasingly large segments of the Slovenian and global population, are particularly vulnerable to breaches of internet privacy. Although this group is heterogeneous, older internet users tend to be narrow users, often lacking digital skills and privacy literacy. Thus, they face difficulties in regulating their internet privacy and mitigating the associated concerns. This prevents them from reaping the benefits of internet use while avoiding its potential dangers.

Objectives

The overarching aim is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how older internet users’ internet privacy management and digital inequalities interrelate across different online contexts. The main objectives are as follows:

1. To provide a systematic overview of theories and empirical studies on older internet users’ privacy management.
2. To provide an in-depth understanding of older internet users’ privacy management and its links to digital inequalities.
3. To develop and empirically test a conceptual framework to explain how internet access, skills and uses determine older internet users’ privacy management, thereby influencing positive and negative outcomes of internet use.
4. To develop and experimentally evaluate context-specific internet privacy literacy educational materials tailored to the needs of older internet users.

The phases of the project and their realization

The project will be carried out in four phases:

1. First, a systematic review will be conducted which will summarize theoretical and empirical studies on privacy management among older internet users.
2. This will be followed by the development of a conceptual model that explains how internet access, skills and uses determine internet privacy management, thereby influencing positive and negative outcomes of internet use among older users.
3. The conceptual model will be subsequently tested and enhanced through empirical, qualitative and quantitative, studies.
4. Finally, the project’s activities will focus on the development and experimental validation of educational materials aimed at improving older internet users’ privacy literacy and thus helping them to reduce their vulnerabilities that stem from inadequate management of their privacy on the internet.

Research Organisation

https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/22734

Researchers

https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/22734

Citations for bibliographic records

https://cris.cobiss.net/ecris/si/en/project/22734

Key words

conceptual framework, digital inequalities, experimental study, focus groups, internet access, internet outcomes, internet privacy concerns and literacy, internet privacy management, internet skills and uses, older internet users, privacy regulation behaviour, surveys

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG10 | Reduce inequalities