What Should Users Know About Online Privacy? Towards the Online Privacy Literacy Scale (OPLIS)

• In Event: Privacy Issues With Social Media #3

Abstract

Empirical research has revealed disparities of Internet users’ online privacy attitudes and behaviors. A potential explanation is provided by the knowledge gap hypothesis which states that a lack of online privacy literacy prevents people from acting according to their concerns. To implement privacy literacy in future research, the online privacy literacy scale (OPLIS) was developed based on an extensive review of previous research in this field and a profound content analysis of different sources capturing a variety of aspects relevant to online privacy literacy. The scale encompasses five dimensions of online privacy literacy: Knowledge about (1) practices of organizations, institutions and online services providers; (2) technical aspects of online privacy and data protection; (3) laws and legal aspects of online data protection in Germany; and (4) European directives on privacy and data protection and (5) knowledge about user strategies for individual privacy regulation.

Authors

• Doris Teutsch, University of Hohenheim

• Philipp K. Masur, University of Hohenheim

• Sabine Trepte, U of Hohenheim