The privacy of user data in an age of big data: A sociological analysis

This study summarizes the developmental stages and key concepts of data technologies and seeks to explain the threats that these technologies pose both within the continuous and the new dynamics of capitalism in a theoretical background. Christian Fuch's examinations on digital capitalism are established as the main theoretical approach. The practical part of the study examines the importance attached to personal and behavioural data by internet users, their awareness, and their degrees of concern towards data security. To analyse these factors, a survey was conducted with 307 participants from the sample containing three different levels of technological expertise. The sample included Hacettepe University students in the Departments of Sociology, Philosophy and Computer Engineering, as well as technology employees in the Hacettepe Technopolis. The findings are evaluated under the subjects of importance attached to data security, privacy concerns and awareness related to data sharing. The findings of this study demonstrate that as daily internet usage frequency accelerates, the possibility of heightened concerns over behavioural and sensitive data privacy also increases. The sample's attitude towards behavioural data is to differentiate on the basis of the participant's daily internet usage frequency and their level of expertise. It was found that although there is a high level of awareness towards online profiling in the sample, the habit of keeping the online behavioural data safe is not found to be common. Another finding, that participants in the sample are inclined to believe that it is not possible to predict who will access through their data, goes some way towards explaining this previous finding. An analysis of the findings indicates that when the sample has knowledge concerning the profiling capacity of data technologies, they are unable to secure their behavioural data.