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Dark clouds and silver linings : impact of COVID-19 on internet users’ privacy

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Gopal, Ram D., Hidaji, Hooman, Patterson, Raymond A. and Yaraghi, Niam (2021) Dark clouds and silver linings : impact of COVID-19 on internet users’ privacy. JAMIA Open, 4 (4). ooab100. doi:10.1093/jamiaopen/ooab100

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/jamiaopen/ooab100

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Abstract

Objectives: To examine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the extent of potential violations of Internet users’ privacy. Materials and Methos: We conducted a longitudinal study of the data sharing practices of the top 1,000 websites in the US between April 9th and August 27th, 2020. We fitted a conditional latent growth curve model on the data to examine the longitudinal trajectory of the third-party data sharing over the 21 weeks period of the study and examine how website characteristics affect this trajectory.
Results: As the weekly number of COVID-19 deaths increased by 1,000, the average number of third parties increased by 0.26 [95%CI, 0.15 to 0.37] P<.001 units in the next week. This effect was more pronounced for websites with higher traffic as they increased their third parties by an additional 0.41 [95% CI, 0.18 to 0.64]; P<.001 units per week. However, privacy respecting websites that experienced a surge in traffic reduced their third parties by 1.01 [95% CI, -2.01 to 0]; P = 0.05 units per week in response to every 1,000 COVID-19 deaths in the preceding week.
Discussion: While in general websites shared their users’ data with more third parties as COVID-19 progressed in the US, websites’ expected traffic and respect for users’ privacy significantly affect such trajectory.
Conclusions: Attention should also be paid to the impact of the pandemic on elevating online privacy threats, and the variation in third-party tracking among different types of websites.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Electronic computers. Computer science. Computer software
R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine
T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Information Systems & Management
Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): COVID-19 (Disease), Data privacy -- United States, Internet -- Security measures, Computer networks -- Security measures, Computer security
Journal or Publication Title: JAMIA Open
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISSN: 2574-2531
Official Date: October 2021
Dates:
DateEvent
October 2021Published
9 November 2021Available
5 November 2021Accepted
Volume: 4
Number: 4
Article Number: ooab100
DOI: 10.1093/jamiaopen/ooab100
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Open Access
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
430-2018-00433Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canadahttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000155
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