Mapping Privacy and Surveillance Dynamics in Emerging Mobile Ecosystems

Nokia Phone How Else Can I Help

Practices and Contexts in the Netherlands and US

Mobile technologies and devices enable you to keep an eye on your neighbourhood via a WhatsApp group, to constantly receive assistance from an intelligent personal assistant (such as Apple’s Siri), and to use wearables and apps to monitor your health and track your fitness achievements. However, these mobile and interconnected platforms might also have an effect on how users negotiate their privacy as they increase the potential for more pervasive forms of digitally mediated surveillance. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, this project evaluates how mobile users in the Netherlands and the U.S. consider and make decisions about their privacy and personal data.

The development of mobile and interconnected technologies has in many ways positively affected the efficiency, convenience, and enjoyment of people’s everyday lives. At the same time, however, mobile technologies create global privacy and surveillance challenges. The way users, organisations, and governments approach these challenges varies based on cultural norms around privacy. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, this project evaluates how mobile users in the Netherlands and the U.S. consider and make decisions about their privacy and personal data. The project's primary goal is to inform ways of thinking about privacy in the digital age, with an emphasis on tensions between personal information, disclosure, mobility and surveillance. Furthermore, this study highlights important implications for policy decisions regarding privacy.

The first phase of the project develops an understanding of privacy awareness and practices across three mobile technologies: health and fitness tracking apps and wearables (e.g., Fitbit), mobile messaging apps (e.g., WhatsApp), and intelligent digital personal assistants (e.g., Siri). Building on these findings, phase 2 involves the development and implementation of a cross-cultural survey featuring a series of ‘privacy vignettes’ (scenarios). This will serve to evaluate the nuances in privacy concerns across individual and cultural characteristics. The project’s final phase focuses on the dissemination of findings to key stakeholders and policymakers, and on building an international working group of researchers. This cross-cultural project expands the understanding of the contextual nature of mobile privacy, while also providing practical implications for a Privacy by Design framework.

Research team

Principal Investigator

  • dr. (Jason) JH Pridmore

    Jason Pridmore is the Vice Dean of Education for the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication and an Associate Professor in the Department of Media…
    dr. (Jason) JH Pridmore
  • dr. (Daniel) D Trottier

    Daniel Trottier is an Associate Professor at the Department of Media and Communication of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His current research considers the use…
    dr. (Daniel) D Trottier
  • dr. (Anouk) AE Mols

    Anouk Mols is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Department of Media & Communication of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. She works for the EU…
    dr. (Anouk) AE Mols

This project is funded by NWO.

For more information about the funding of this project, please see the NWO website.

Erasmus signature National Science Foundation logo University of Maryland logo Unversity of Wisconsin Milwaukee logo

Compare @count study programme

  • @title

    • Duration: @duration
Compare study programmes