CHRISTIAN FUCHS - ICT&S - Universität Salzburg

Christian Fuchs: Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance SocietyMost of the respondents are heavy users of integrated social networking sites (ISNS).39.3% use such platforms several times per day, 22.8% once a day (figure 10). So62.1% of the respondents use ISNS at least once a day. This is an indication that theseplatforms have become very popular among students in Salzburg in particular, andAustrian students in general. Only 3.4% of the respondents never use such platforms,which is an indication that students are highly e-literate/e-educated and value onlinecommunication. 49.5% of the respondents read the terms of use of ISNS never orsuperficially; only 13.9% read them almost entirely or completely (figure 11). Thisshows that information behaviour concerning interest in what Internet companies areallowed to do with user data is rather small. We do not think that users are to blame forthis fact, but that rather the providers are to blame because terms of use are normallyvery long, difficult to read, and do not allow objections by the users (they cannotinfluence the text of the terms of use and can only agree or disagree).Figure 11. Intensity of reading the terms of use7.2. Surveillance KnowledgeThe next four figures show that our respondents had little knowledge of surveillance inAustria and Europe. Only 8.9% chose the right answer in the first instance and only15.7% of the respondents said that they know what data retention (in German:Vorratsdatenspeicherung) is. However, 79.2% of the respondents knew or guessed rightthat many social networking platforms store certain data even after accounts have beendeactivated by the users. This could be an indication that Austrian students know more54