In Focus: Youth and Privacy 2009
For three consecutive years the Swedish Data Inspection Board has conducted a survey of young people’s attitudes toward privacy in general and privacy on the Internet in particular. The previous studies have shown that young people are very active on the Internet and that they like to remain anonymous. They do, however, engage in unsafe behaviors on the Internet as well as in their everyday lives.
This year’s results clearly indicate that young people have a more negative attitude toward surveillance in general. One possible explanation might be the debates surrounding the FRA and IPRED legislation during 2008. Almost half of the respondents state that the debate around the FRA legislation made them think more about issues of privacy.
Young people would easily consider revealing information that has traditionally been considered private including their political and religious views. Issues that young people judged more private include their financial situation or on whom they have a crush.
The police are the most trusted of all the various government agencies and authorities. Young people trust private businesses the least and generally believe that the worst violation of privacy consists of businesses searching for information about them. On the Internet, however, the government searching for information is considered the worst violation of privacy.
Young people continue their extensive use of IT and primarily the Internet. One major change since the first survey about young people’s attitudes toward privacy is the sharp increase in the number of respondents who are most likely to surf the Internet on their own computer.
Many young people have experienced various kinds of cyber bullying. Boys are most likely to be the victims of cyber bullying with one exception: girls are much more likely to have been the victims of sexual harassment. While only a fourth of the young people have used the abuse function on a community, individuals who have used it reported that it had been effective.
While surveillance is becoming less accepted, a considerable majority of respondents tolerate it if it would prevent serious crimes. Video surveillance is the most accepted form of technological surveillance. Personal presence (police, security guard or break monitor) is preferred over technological surveillance and is considered the most effective for crime prevention.
While respondents continue to be quite knowledgeable about privacy on the Internet, many are less familiar with the world outside the computer. They are the least informed about personal identity numbers. Although most respondents know that one of the missions of the Swedish Data Inspection Board is to inform people about risks on the Internet, almost half believe that it also controls spam. The study is based on a web survey of 533 young individuals. The sample is representative with regard to gender, region and age among 14–18-year-olds.
Read the full report: Youth and Privacy 2009
More information
The 2008 survey
Read more about the 2008 survey.