Project Launch: Internet Privacy Management and Digital Inequalities among Older Internet Users
In January, the Centre for Social Informatics (CSI) has launched a new three-year research project Internet Privacy Management and Digital Inequalities among Older Internet Users, funded by the Slovenian research and innovation agency. The project is led by Associate Prof. Andraž Petrovčič, PhD.
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.
Project Objectives
The main objective of the project is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how older adults manage their privacy on the internet and how privacy management is linked to digital inequalities.
The project will be carried out in four phases:
- First, a systematic review will be conducted which will summarize theoretical and empirical studies on privacy management among older internet users.
- 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.
- The conceptual model will be subsequently tested and enhanced through empirical, qualitative and quantitative, studies.
- 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.
In addition to five researchers from CSI, the project will involve five prominent foreign experts, professors and researchers from Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the US, who are studying different aspects of digital inequalities and privacy on the internet.