Koettu sijaintitiedon yksityisyys nuorten aikuisten keskuudessa: fokusryhmätutkimus

This master’s thesis examines the location privacy perceptions, privacy behaviours, and uses of location online. Young adults have grown up in the era of the internet, which means that they have big data collected of them since their first day online as teenagers or younger children. The topic of perceived location privacy is yet to be researched in Finland. The aim of this thesis was to understand; what are the location privacy perceptions and location privacy knowledge of young Finnish adults, and to see if the privacy paradox is in effect within the young Finnish adults. The research is based on a qualitative method and three focus groups were held to collect the data. During focus groups sessions the participants were free to discuss location privacy-related topics and their own experiences. From there on the data was analysed by using inductive content analysis methods on Atlas.ti program. The results of this research indicate that young adults are not confident in their knowledge of location privacy. The participants voiced clear worry over their privacy while using social media and mobile phones, but actions towards protecting personal privacy were not taken. This disparity between privacy concerns and taken privacy protection action was identified as privacy paradox. Most commonly, the individual’s privacy concerns were towards unknown individuals rather than the platforms or companies behind them. Aside from discussing their privacy concerns, the young adults voiced several instances of beneficial usage of personal location sharing, such instances were: location sharing to friends when trying to find each other in public places, personal navigation, quantified self, and others. It was found that young Finnish adults found it concerning that they have a lack of interest in their privacy, but still stated that they might not work to improve their knowledge or measures taken to protect their privacy online. The aspect of geographical location did matter to the young adults, and Finland and Europe were seen as most privacy protective countries of origins for applications and services