Privacy on the Internet-problems and solutions

ABSTRACT
The Internet is the most powerful tool in the world. With it, we can easily communicate with
other people through social networks, but it has serious disadvantage and that is security
issues. The research was provided among 262 Croatian students that were aged from 20 to 27.
They were given questionnaire that had three parts. The results showed that people are aware
of disadvantages of the Internet and that they are using it properly.

INTRODUCTION
With the development of technologies, more and more people are starting to use the world's
largest social network the Internet. Internet allow people to communicate with each other
over social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and others. This paper analyze the
biggest problem on the Internet and that is privacy issues. Privacy is a social, cultural and
legal and is defined as the right of an individual to control the collection and use of personal
information about themselves. (Jakovljevi, M.,2011.) Time spend online has also grown
among children. Privacy on the Internet is very important because people could be at risk if
they do not protect themselves very well. Users expect that their personal information will be
protected in a responsible fashion without invasions into their private lives.( Jakovljevi,
M.,2011.) This research investigate the disadvantages of the Internet and potential risks for
privacy and security violation.
METHOD
In May 2010., a questionnaire was performed on 262 Croatian students who had access to the
Internet at college or at home. They were aged from 20 to 27 and they were from 4 different
colleges, sophomore year or higher. The two thirds of them were male. All of them had some
knowledge of the Internet, but only 33% of them connected to the Internet via modem. The
questionnaire had three parts, the first part was designed for the collection of demographic
data, the second part compared the Internet to the television and press and the last part had a
questions about the Internet when the unfavorable attributes were told.

RESULTS
The most interesting fact of the results is that subjects were aware of the risk on the Internet.
Most of them (92%) perceived that television and the press are more advantageous than the
Internet. The less informed Internet community should be provided with an appropriate
warning about the risk of being exposed to unauthorized monitoring and surveillance via the
Internet, as well as with the knowledge and tools to prevent such risks.(Bubua, G., Kermek,
D.,2000.) The results also implies that the rest of the subjects could change their preferences
to the television or to the press.
DISCUSSION
The results of our questionnaire indicates that users who are familiar with the Internet
andhave some related technical knowledge are aware of the privacy and security risks that are
on the Internet. The use of television and the press is more secure than the Internet because
there are no danger that subjects identity could be exposed. There is a danger of cyber identity
in which people could easily deceive a young children. The Internet privacy is not the only
issue that subjects could deal with, but the need to be in touch with new technologies could
also be a big problem.Other potentially negative factors could be computer illiteracy,
linguistic incompetence, users getting into the habit of using traditional mass media,
convenience, and negative attitudes toward navel technology.( Bubua, G., Kermek,
D.,2000.)
CONLUSION
The results showed that subjects recognize the problems with security and that they rather use
television and the press to get informed about events in the world. The Internet have good and
the bad sides. The good are that we can find a large amount of infomations at anytime and
from anyplace. Furthermore, we are in touch with new technologies that allow us to easily
solve some personal problems. On the other hand, there are privacy issues that represent a big
problem, but with the further research about safety on the Internet that problem could be
solved.
REFERENCES

Bubua, G., Kermek, D.(2000.) Being Connected to The Internet: User's Perceptions of Privacy and
Security. Zbornik radova, 24(1), 55.-67.
Jakovljevi, M.(2011.) Information Privacy: The Attitudes and Behaviours of Internet Users.
Oeconomica Jadertina, 12.-29.

J. Havick.(2000.) The impact of the Internet on a television-based society. Technology in

Society, 22, 273.-287.

Domagoj aki