CHRISTIAN FUCHS - ICT&S - Universität Salzburg

Christian Fuchs: Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance SocietyHaving Read the NewTerms of Use:Correlation CoefficientSig. (2-tailed)NUsage Intensity ISNS:Correlation CoefficientSig. (2-tailed)NRead Terms of Use:Correlation CoefficientSig. (2-tailed)NSurveillance CritiqueIndex:Correlation CoefficientSig. (2-tailed)NSurveillance KnowledgeIndex:Correlation CoefficientSig. (2-tailed)NstudiVZKnowledge#10.0160.7464010.0300.5524010.137**0.0064010.0810.104401studiVZKnowledge#20.112**0.0105260.0690.1145260.139**0.001526-0.0960.028526** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).HavingRead theNew Termsof Use0.0550.2723960.358**0.0003960.0930.0643960.0920.068396Trust instudiVZ-0.182**0.0003860.0820.059525-0.181**0.000525-0.270**0.000525-0.159**0.000525Table 15. Bivariate correlations about studiVZstudiVZInformationBehaviourIndex0.0500.3044250.165**0.0014250.157**0.0014250.0890.066425Although students tend to rather not read terms of use and privacy policies of socialnetworking sites in general (12.9% say they never read them never, 36.6% say theyread them only superficially, whereas only 11.7% say they read them almost entirelyand 2.2% that they read them always in detail), in the case of the new terms of use ofstudiVZ that were introduced at the beginning of 2008, 46.6% of the studiVZ users saidthat they had read the terms in detail before agreeing and 38.7% say that their trust instudiVZ decreased after the new terms had come into effect. This is an indication thatstudiVZ users were suspicious why new terms were introduced and that they heardabout increased possibilities for economic surveillance and privacy threats that the newterms of use could bring about. Public discussion about the new terms of use and itsproblems could be one of the factors that influenced the information behaviour ofstudiVZ users.The studiVZ users in our survey are highly knowledgeable of what studiVZ is allowed todo and is not allowed to do with their personal data. 91.8% of them know that studiVZgathers and stores data on their usage behaviour, 85.6% answer correctly that studiVZis not allowed to reuse or resell user-generated content. This is an indication that theusers are well informed about the terms of use and the rights that studiVZ has reservedfor itself legally. Public discourse could be one of the factors that influenced this highdegree of knowledge about studiVZ. After the new terms of use had come into effect,the standard advertising settings for all old and new users were that advertising clients75