scholarly journals Academic Librarians in Canada Concerned About Online and Patron Privacy but Lack Knowledge About Institutional Procedures and Policies

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Krueger

A Review of: Tummon, N., & McKinnon, D. (2018). Attitudes and practices of Canadian academic librarians regarding library and online privacy: A national study. Library and Information Science Research, 40(2), 86-97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2018.05.002 Abstract Objective – To assess attitudes of Canadian academic librarians regarding online privacy issues and to gauge their knowledge of related procedures and policies at their institutions. Design – Attitudinal online survey in English. Setting – English-language academic libraries in 10 Canadian provinces. Subjects – English-speaking academic librarians across Canada. Methods – Survey, based on Zimmer’s 2014 study of librarians in the United States of America, announced via email to 1,317 potential participants, managed using LimeSurvey, and available from April 7 to May 5, 2017. In 28 optional multiple choice or Likert scale questions, the survey prompted participants to express their attitudes regarding online privacy scenarios and privacy-related library practices, including patron data collection. Results were analyzed in Microsoft Excel and SPSS. Main Results – The survey response rate was 13.9% (183 respondents). Job position, age, or geographic location did not appear to influence attitudes towards privacy, with almost all respondents strongly agreeing or agreeing that individuals should control who sees their personal information (96.2%) and that companies collect too much such information (97.8%). Respondents voiced slightly less concern about government information collection, but nearly all respondents agreed that governments should not share personal information with third parties without authorization and that companies should only use information for the purposes they specify. When asked if privacy issues are more important today than five years ago, 69.9% of respondents said they were more concerned and 78.1% noted they knew more than five years before about privacy-related risks. Regarding online behaviour, 53.3% of respondents felt web behaviour tracking is both beneficial and harmful, with 29.1% considering it harmful, and 13.7% finding it neither beneficial nor harmful. Online shopping and identify theft, social media behaviour tracking, search engine policy display, and personal information sharing were also areas of concern for respondents, with the majority noting they were somewhat or very concerned about these issues.  In terms of library practices, most respondents strongly agreed that libraries should not share personal information, circulation records, or Internet use records with third parties unless authorized, though 33% of respondents noted they could neither agree nor disagree that libraries are doing all they can to prevent unauthorized access to such information. The majority of respondents strongly agreed or agreed that libraries should play a role in educating patrons about privacy issues. Many respondents (68.9%) did not know if their libraries had practices or procedures for dealing with patron information requests from law enforcement or governmental representatives. The majority of respondents did not know if patrons at their libraries had inquired about privacy issues, 42.3% did not know if their libraries communicate privacy policies to patrons, and 45.4% noted their libraries did not inform patrons about library e-resource privacy policies. Many respondents (55.2%) had attended educational sessions about online privacy and surveillance in the past five years, while 52.2% noted their libraries had not hosted or organized such sessions over the same period. Conclusion – Survey participants showed concern about online and patron privacy, though their lack of knowledge about local procedures and policies highlights a potential need for enhanced privacy education.

2010 ◽  
pp. 2046-2065
Author(s):  
Veda C. Storey ◽  
Gerald C. Kane ◽  
Kathy Stewart Schwaig

Privacy concerns and practices, especially those dealing with the acquisition and use of consumer personal information by corporations, are at the forefront of business and social issues associated with the information age. This research examines the privacy policies of large U.S. companies to assess the substance and quality of their stated information practices. Six factors are identified that indicate the extent to which a firm is dependent upon consumer personal information, and therefore more likely to develop high quality privacy statements. The study’s findings provide practical and theoretical implications for information privacy issues, particularly for consumers who need to determine whether or not to disclose their personal identifying information to firms. The results illustrate the complexity involved in managing personal private information.


Author(s):  
Garry L. White ◽  
Francis A. Méndez Mediavilla ◽  
Jaymeen R. Shah

In the Web dependent world, companies must respect and protect individuals’ information privacy. Companies develop and implement corporate information privacy policies to comply with the domestic and international information privacy laws and regulations. This paper investigates: (a) the approach used by multinational and domestic companies to develop and implement corporate information privacy policies; and (b) the perception of corporate managers/professionals toward information privacy legislation and secondary use of personally identifiable information (PII) that organizations collect. A survey was conducted to collect data from corporate CEOs, managers, and technical professionals of national and multinational companies. Findings indicate the following: 1) Views regarding the practicality and effectiveness of information privacy legislations are similar for respondents from the national and multinational companies. 2) Respondents are undecided about whether the privacy laws of the United States and foreign countries are equally restrictive. 3) Multinational companies do not favor developing and implementing uniform information privacy policies or different information privacy policies across countries of operations. 4) Respondents strongly agreed that unauthorized secondary use of personal information is unacceptable.


2009 ◽  
pp. 269-283
Author(s):  
Suhong Li

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the current status of online privacy policies of Fortune 100 Companies. It was found that 94% of the surveyed companies have posted an online privacy policy and 82% of them collect personal information from consumers. The majority of the companies only partially follow the four principles (notice, choice, access, and security) of fair information practices. For example, most of the organizations give consumers some notice and choice in term of the collection and use of their personal information. However, organizations fall short in security requirements. Only 19% of organizations mention that they have taken steps to provide security for information both during transmission and after their sites have received the information. The results also reveal that a few organizations have obtained third-party privacy seals including TRUSTe, BBBOnline Privacy, and Safe Harbor.


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3499
Author(s):  
Donna M. Winham ◽  
Elizabeth D. Davitt ◽  
Michelle M. Heer ◽  
Mack C. Shelley

Many American college students fail to meet dietary guideline recommendations for fruits, vegetables, and fiber. Pulses are a subgroup of legumes, harvested solely for dry grain seeds within a pod. Commonly consumed pulses include dry beans, dry peas, lentils, and chickpeas. Pulses are high in shortfall nutrients and could fill some nutritional gaps of college students. However, little is known about pulse intakes among young adults. The study aims were: (1) to identify knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding pulse consumption; and (2) to describe experiences of preparing dry pulses among college students. A convenience sample of 1433 students aged 18–30 enrolled at a Midwestern university in the United States completed an online survey in April 2020. Demographic and attitude variables were compared by the monthly count of pulse types eaten using chi-square, analysis of variance, and logistic regression modeling to predict pulse type intakes. Higher numbers of pulse types eaten was associated with being White, vegetarian/vegan, higher cooking self-efficacy, positive attitudes toward pulses, and greater daily intake of fruits, vegetables, and fiber. Knowledge and experience of cooking dry pulses was low, with canned pulses purchased more often. College students may not be consuming pulses due to unfamiliarity with them, low knowledge of nutrition benefits, and a general lack of cooking self-efficacy. Increased familiarization and promotion surrounding pulses may increase their consumption.


First Monday ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Jackson ◽  
Jonathan O'Donnell ◽  
Joann Cattlin

Simple Privacy provides a system for Australian organisations to create privacy policies for the personal information they collect online. The privacy policies it creates are legally compliant and easy to understand. We developed this system because small Australian organisations seemed to find privacy policies too complicated to manage with the resources they have available.This paper describes the framework behind Simple Privacy and discusses the choices that we made during development. These choices balance the requirements of the privacy legislation and the needs of both organisations and customers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Thienprayoon ◽  
Ryan Campbell ◽  
Naomi Winick

Fifty thousand children die annually in the United States. No best practice standard exists regarding what services should be offered by children’s hospitals to grieving families. We sought to identify the bereavement services most commonly offered, the departments primarily responsible for their dissemination, whether resources differ based on the patient’s diagnosis or place of death, and whether the services offered are adequate. A 13-item anonymous online survey was emailed to 201 pediatric chaplains using the Pediatric Chaplains Network email list. Seventy respondents (34.8%) participated. Respondents described offering a variety of resources, but 47.8% of respondents believe the resources provided are not adequate. Increased staff and financial resources, and more consistency in services provided, were cited as needing improvement. The breadth and depth of bereavement services varies among children’s hospitals. More studies are warranted to define the optimal approach to care for families grieving the loss of a child.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daria Ilkina

This thesis investigates the privacy risks that m-learning app users face by identifying the personal information that m-learning apps collect from their users, and the privacy policies of these apps. It reveals that most of the m-learning applications have similar privacy policies, which seem to protect the interest of the providers rather than the users. The Privacy by Design framework is reviewed to determine whether it can help the developers address user privacy practices. The results from the sample of 260 participants suggest that users are less concerned with the collection of personal information that is non-identifiable. The survey also revealed that the users are more concerned when an app shares their personal information with third parties for commercial purposes than when it is shared with the government.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bright Kwaku Avuglah ◽  
Christopher M. Owusu-Ansah ◽  
Gloria Tachie-Donkor ◽  
Eugene Baah Yeboah

The study surveyed librarians’ and students’ attitudes, perceptions and concerns on privacy in Ghanaian universities with the aim of seeking a better alignment of their perspectives in the online library context. This study adapted and applied the instrument developed by Zimmer which assessed attitudes and practices of librarians in the USA on privacy rights and protecting patron’s privacy in the library. The study found that between librarians and students in Ghanaian universities, there was a need for greater control over their personal data; and a need for ethical responsibility on the part of data collecting online library agents; both groups expressed dislike for state censorship and corporate monopoly over their personal data. However, despite their positive attitude about the strong role of librarians in guaranteeing their personal data, a significant number of them demonstrate little faith in librarians to actualize the protection of their personal data. Lastly, privacy attitudes and concerns of academic librarians were noted to align with that of university students in Ghana. Among others, it was recommended that Ghanaian academic librarians integrate privacy education and awareness creation in their universities, emphasizing the need to make informed online decisions and exposing potential repercussions of their decisions while using online library and digital resources.


10.2196/23467 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. e23467
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Elkhodr ◽  
Omar Mubin ◽  
Zainab Iftikhar ◽  
Maleeha Masood ◽  
Belal Alsinglawi ◽  
...  

Background Many countries across the globe have released their own COVID-19 contact tracing apps. This has resulted in the proliferation of several apps that used a variety of technologies. With the absence of a standardized approach used by the authorities, policy makers, and developers, many of these apps were unique. Therefore, they varied by function and the underlying technology used for contact tracing and infection reporting. Objective The goal of this study was to analyze most of the COVID-19 contact tracing apps in use today. Beyond investigating the privacy features, design, and implications of these apps, this research examined the underlying technologies used in contact tracing apps. It also attempted to provide some insights into their level of penetration and to gauge their public reception. This research also investigated the data collection, reporting, retention, and destruction procedures used by each of the apps under review. Methods This research study evaluated 13 apps corresponding to 10 countries based on the underlying technology used. The inclusion criteria ensured that most COVID-19-declared epicenters (ie, countries) were included in the sample, such as Italy. The evaluated apps also included countries that did relatively well in controlling the outbreak of COVID-19, such as Singapore. Informational and unofficial contact tracing apps were excluded from this study. A total of 30,000 reviews corresponding to the 13 apps were scraped from app store webpages and analyzed. Results This study identified seven distinct technologies used by COVID-19 tracing apps and 13 distinct apps. The United States was reported to have released the most contact tracing apps, followed by Italy. Bluetooth was the most frequently used underlying technology, employed by seven apps, whereas three apps used GPS. The Norwegian, Singaporean, Georgian, and New Zealand apps were among those that collected the most personal information from users, whereas some apps, such as the Swiss app and the Italian (Immuni) app, did not collect any user information. The observed minimum amount of time implemented for most of the apps with regard to data destruction was 14 days, while the Georgian app retained records for 3 years. No significant battery drainage issue was reported for most of the apps. Interestingly, only about 2% of the reviewers expressed concerns about their privacy across all apps. The number and frequency of technical issues reported on the Apple App Store were significantly more than those reported on Google Play; the highest was with the New Zealand app, with 27% of the reviewers reporting technical difficulties (ie, 10% out of 27% scraped reviews reported that the app did not work). The Norwegian, Swiss, and US (PathCheck) apps had the least reported technical issues, sitting at just below 10%. In terms of usability, many apps, such as those from Singapore, Australia, and Switzerland, did not provide the users with an option to sign out from their apps. Conclusions This article highlighted the fact that COVID-19 contact tracing apps are still facing many obstacles toward their widespread and public acceptance. The main challenges are related to the technical, usability, and privacy issues or to the requirements reported by some users.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document