A WEIRD Divide: How Low- and High-Income Technology Users Deal With Privacy Online

• In Event: Digital Inequalities 3.0: New Problems and New Approaches

Abstract

Computer and communication scientists are increasingly problematizing digital inequalities with regard to online privacy. It is found that advantageous online privacy outcomes are not accessible to everyone equally, but mostly to individuals from WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies. Even among them, online privacy divides along socioeconomic factors such as gender, race, age, and income exist but have not been extensively studied within sociology yet. As a case study for technology users living in WEIRD countries this paper presents insights from an exploratory interview study (n=45) with German technology users who have a low (n=28) or high (n=17) income. The findings indicate that WEIRD technology users with varying income statuses deal with and experience online privacy in different ways. The paper discusses how these differences play out in relation to hardware accessibility, and data backup strategies, self-assessment of data value, level of information, and privacy-related practices. It argues that these differences deepen the online privacy divide among low and high-income technology users and that they also show how online privacy does not lie within the responsibility of the individual user, but rather depends on the material conditions they live in.

Author

• Anastassija Kostan, JOHANNES KEPLER UNIVERSITÄT LINZ