Information privacy and applications A case study of user behaviors and attitudes in Norway

A recent study conducted in Norway shows that there has been a rise in concern about information privacy in the general population. However, as the study, presented by Datatilsynet and Teknologirådet (NDPA and NBT) (2014) shows; most respondents are not willing to sacrifice the convenience of applications to protect their information privacy. This lack in correlation between concern and action is what has been termed the privacy paradox . In a study cited by Norberg, Horne & Horne they found that higher levels of trust were related to increased willingness to provide personal information (2007, p. 107). The argument was that the privacy paradox might be connected to trust. In this master thesis I have made an attempt to uncover if the privacy paradox might be a reality in Norway. By asking two different groups of respondents about what they consider private information, and how they in turn protect that information, I have made an attempt to uncover whether the respondents act upon their concern for privacy in their everyday use of applications. In an attempt at understanding why there is a lack in correlation between concern and behaviour, I applied a variable of trust. Considering the general assumption that Norwegians have a high level of general trust towards others, I also interviewed a group of German students to see if their concerns and actions would vary from the Norwegians and if that could be explained by general trust. To stimulate the groups to think about how they would protect their personal information, I demonstrated a recent application, named ValYou . First of all, I found that the German group of respondents demonstrated a more sceptical view on how their information was stored and used online, than the Norwegian group did. The former group was also more informed about threats to the privacy of their information, but did not seem to act upon that concern. They admitted to trade off their privacy concerns for the convenience of an application. The Norwegian group admitted to not take many precautions in their everyday use of application, which could be explained by the groups high level of general trust (GT). The latter argument would consider the privacy paradox to be more of a reality in the German group, considering their apparent trade off. The attitudes and behaviours amongst the two groups could be argued to be connected to trust, on two different levels