Survey Study - Online Privacy: Do Indians Care?

Running Head: SURVEY STUDY - ONLINE PRIVACY: DO INDIANS CARE? 1

Abhiraj Lamba ©

Survey Study - Online Privacy: Do Indians Care?

Abhiraj Lamba

Author’s Note

I am a 9th grader studying at The Doon School, Dehradun and have written this paper just be-

cause of wanting to do some non-school related academic study after having received this idea

by my former chemistry teacher, Mr. Manish Pant. As this is my first research paper, I would

request the readers not to judge it too harshly.

SURVEY STUDY - ONLINE PRIVACY: DO INDIANS CARE? 2

Abhiraj Lamba ©

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Rahul Garg, for helping me whenever I needed it the most and for giving

me the satisfaction of knowing that there is someone out there to help me when I get stuck. Also

I would like to thank my mother and father, for supporting me whenever they could and giving

me part of their precious time. Another person whom I would like to thank will be my former

chemistry teacher, Mr. Manish Pant, to whom this piece of research is dedicated, for giving me

this wonderful idea of doing an independent study. I would like to thank Kunal Gupta for helping

me find time for this paper in the busy schedule of a boarding school. Thanks are also due to the

prefects of my house in my school for allowing me to do this during the study time. Lastly but

not the least I would like to thank the 100 people who filled and shared the form (Appendix A)

which gave me the data for this case study.


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Dedication

I dedicate this piece of research to my former chemistry teacher, Mr. Manish Pant, for giving me

this wonderful idea of doing my own research work. Thank you sir.


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Index

Survey Study - Online Privacy: Do Indians Care? 1

Author‘s Note 1

Acknowledgement 2

Dedication 3

Index 4

Abstract 5

Online Privacy in India Introduction 6

Literature Review 8

Method 9

Result & Discussions 10

Recommendations 26

Limitations 27

References 28

Appendix A 30

Appendix B 35


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Abstract

I decided to do this study because I was curious in today‘s date how many people of my country

are aware of online privacy. This research is important because it is important to be aware of on-

line privacy and cyber crimes due to the growing cyber crime rates, which is also why people

should someone read this entire paper. I am trying to see how many people seem to care about

their online privacy. The scope of my study is to increase awareness of cyber crimes and online

privacy. Data given to me by people who filled in the questionnaire I made (Appendix A) was

my most important resource. I realized that most Indians do seem to care about their online pri-

vacy but that most just isn't enough for a safer India. These findings are very general.

Keywords: cybercrime, social networking, information privacy, India, password, awareness


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Online Privacy in India Introduction

Today life is on if you are ―online‖, that is online on some social networking sites and it would

be hard to negate the fact that nowadays we are online all the time and also that there are hun-

dreds of social networking sites, with various technological affordances, to help us to remain on-

line, but researchers have investigated the potential threats to online privacy. These social net-

works, if not used correctly, are also ideal for mining information which can be exploited for

phishing. Then come the e-commerce websites, on which if your activity is tracked it becomes

easier for cyber-criminals to target you. Also these websites might take your credit/debit card

details, which if fall into the wrong hands your money will be in danger. Also, there are online

banking sites, details of which if hacked, it is much more dangerous for your money than even

your debit/credit card details being revealed to these criminals. I cannot, obviously, list every

possible kind of website which you might be using because, in this age everything is on the web

and it is unimaginable to even imagine our lives without the internet. A lot many cyber-crimes

these days, happen due to the lack of awareness of online security and privacy.

Now, coming to the context of India. I will quote this cyber-crime case of India, which I have

heard from Mr. Rakshit Tandon, Cyber Crime Expert, in a talk which he was giving at my

school. So basically, there was a couple who were fairly rich, and they used to upload photos on

Facebook with their cars, jewellery and other expensive items. Once, they planned a visit to Vai-

shano Devi, and updated their status saying ‗Going to Vaishano Devi tomorrow‘. Everyone ex-

cept one person (lets call him x) commented ‗Jai Mata Di‘ on this status but x commented ‗Are

you going alone or with family?‘ to which they replied ‗Everyone is going‘. After this x again

asked ‗So there will be no one at home?‘ and they affirmed his doubts. When they came back

from their Vaishano Devi trip, everything from their house had been stolen.


Abhiraj Lamba ©

To counter such problems there are cyber laws, but still people must be aware of cyber security

because these cyber laws alone cannot serve a broader purpose, but still these cyber laws too

have their advantages :-

• From the perspective of e-commerce in India, the IT Act 2000 and its provisions contain many

positive aspects. Firstly, the implications of these provisions for the e-businesses would be that

email would now be a valid and legal form of communication in our country that can be duly

produced and approved in a court of law.

• Companies shall now be able to carry out electronic commerce using the legal infrastructure

provided by the Act.

• Digital signatures have been given legal validity and sanction in the Act.

• The Act throws open the doors for the entry of corporate companies in the business of being

Certifying Authorities for issuing Digital Signatures Certificates.

• The Act now allows Government to issue notification on the web thus heralding e-governance.

• The Act enables the companies to file any form, application or any other document with any

office, authority, body or agency owned or controlled by the appropriate Government in elec-

tronic form by means of such electronic form as may be prescribed by the appropriate Gov-

ernment.

• The IT Act also addresses the important issues of security, which are so critical to the success

of electronic transactions. The Act has given a legal definition to the concept of secure digital

signatures that would be required to have been passed through a system of a security proce-

dure, as stipulated by the Government at a later date.

• Under the IT Act, 2000, it shall now be possible for corporates to have a statutory remedy in

case if anyone breaks into their computer systems or network and cause loss.


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Literature Review

The problem with online privacy is that ―Ultimately, lasting change in online privacy will only

come from a gradual development of commonsense regarding what is appropriate to post in so-

cial networking forums. Unfortunately, this is not an easy fix.‖( Harvey Jones& Jos´e Hiram

Soltren (2005, December 14)). Also ―For strengthening the cyber ecosystem, a focused atten-

tion and adequate investment of efforts& resources would be required for cyber security‖(Atul

Kumar & Chiranshu Ahuja (2014)). These days awareness just isn‘t enough which is why

―We believe that it will take an unfortunate incident such as a victim of identity theft or stalking

to shock Facebook users into being more selective about the information that they make availa-

ble to other users‖( Govani, T., & Pashley, H. (2005).). Teens these days, don‘t want to share

their data only with those whom they know which is another big problem. ―The study shows that

the gratifications of using Facebook tend to outweigh the perceived threats to privacy. The most

common strategy for privacy protection—decreasing profile visibility through restricting access

to friends—is also a very weak mechanism; a quick fix rather than a systematic approach to pro-

tecting privacy. Most users do not seem to realize that restricting access to their data does not

sufficiently address the risks resulting from the amount, quality and persistence of the data they

provide. After all, restricting profile visibility to ―friends only‖ simply means restricting it within

the visible part of the iceberg‖(Debatin, B., Lovejoy, J. P., Horn, A.-K. and Hughes, B. N.

(2009)).

Facebook‘s data policy states ―We may provide information to third-party partners about the re-

liability of your account to prevent fraud and abuse on and off of our Services. Information we

receive about you, including financial transaction data related to purchases made with Facebook,

may be accessed, processed and retained for an extended period of time when it is the subject of


Abhiraj Lamba ©

a legal request or obligation, governmental investigation, or investigations concerning possible

violations of our terms or policies, or otherwise to prevent harm.‖(Facebook Data Policy).

Agreed this is to help the government or other governmental associations but the point is how

many people out of those who use this popular social networking site, know that a 3rd party can

access their data. I doubt that even half of them do and then that is the main point. But yes this

can help catch criminals nonetheless.―MySpace has played an important role in helping Oakland

police apprehend a 19-year old man accused of shooting a San Leandro High School football

player Greg "Doody" Ballard, Jr.Oakland police had a street name of a suspect and were able to

identify Dwayne Stancill, 19 of Oakland from a picture they found on a gang's MySpace page.

Police brought the suspect to their headquarters where detectives say he confessed.‖( Cyber Law

Cases in India and World on the India Cyber Laws website).

Thankfully in 2000, an IT Act was passed in India. ―The IT Act 2000 attempts to change out-

dated laws and provides ways to deal with cyber crimes. We need such laws so that people can

perform purchase transactions over the Net through credit cards without fear of misuse. The Act

offers the much-needed legal framework so that information is not denied legal effect, validity or

enforceability, solely on the ground that it is in the form of electronic records.‖(The IT Act

2000).

Method

To start with I made a questionnaire with the help of Google Forms (Appendix A) and then

shared it with all my contacts with the help of email, Facebook, Quora ,Twitter and Whatsapp. I

also told all these contacts to share it further, telling others to share it as well. The respondents

were of different profiles. Data was compiled in Google spreadsheets, and once I got 100 res-

ponses, coding of the data was done. After which, I analyzed the data with the help of Microsoft


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Excel Analysis Toolpak and made some pie charts (Appendix B - Figure x to y) which have

been used in ―Result & Discussions‖.

Result & Discussions

65% Indians think that they protect their data well enough and 73% of them actually seem to

take good care of their online data, which is good seeing the fact that less people believe they do

so but still not an excellent score because, in an highly populated country like India 27% is a lot

and even if we look at the positive side that 73% people are careful, it just isn't enough for cyber-

crimes to reduce in our country.

65%

35%

People who think they protect their data

well enough

Yes

No

Figure 1


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Now, I feel you should see the other statistics; I have received from this survey (Appendix A).

To start with I will show you how many people use popular social networking sites these days.

With a majority of 56% Facebook leads the charts and then Twitter comes next with only 14%.

These sites are the reason of why the need of awareness of online privacy arises. These social

networking sites are used by as much as 88% of the Indian population while only 12% don't

know.

73%

27%

People who actually seem to care about

their online privacy

Yes

No

Figure 2


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Other reasons why people must be aware of online privacy is the fact that most people have

smartphones these days, the no. of email ids people have and also the frequency of using the net

by the people.

56%

14%

30%

Popular Social Networking Sites

Facebook

Twitter

Others

Figure 3

88%

12%

People using social networking sites

Yes

No

Figure 4


Abhiraj Lamba ©

83%

17%

People with Smartphones

Yes

No

Figure 5

6%

16%

78%

How frequently people use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 6


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Now we move to the demographic statistics, starting from the age groups:-

9 - 17 years olds

1%

40%

55%

4%

No. of Email ids people have

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 7

4%

24%

72%

How frequently 9 - 17 years olds use the

web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 8


Abhiraj Lamba ©

18 - 24 years olds

48%

46%

6%

No. of Email ids of 9 - 17 years old

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 9

20%

80%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 10


Abhiraj Lamba ©

25 - 34 years olds

10%

90%


web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 11

8%

92%

How frequently 25 - 34 year olds use the

web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 12


Abhiraj Lamba ©

35- 44 years olds

17%

83%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 13

7%

93%


web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 14


Abhiraj Lamba ©

45 - 54 years olds

47%53%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 15

100%


web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 16


Abhiraj Lamba ©

65 - 74 years olds

29%

57%

14%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 17

50%50%


web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 18


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Now coming to the genders

Males

25%

50%

25%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 19

5%

20%

75%

How frequently Males use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 20


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Females

36%

59%

5%

No. of Email ids of Males

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 21

8% 4%

88%

How frequently Females use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 22


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Finally we come to occupations

Students

4%

48%48%

No. of Email ids of Females

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 23

20%

80%

How frequently students use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 24


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Employed for wages

41%

54%

5%

No. of Email ids of students

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 25

6%

94%

How frequently people employed for wages

use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 26


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Self Employed

25%

69%

6%

No. of Email ids of people employed for

wages

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 27

8%

92%

How frequently self employed people use

the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 28


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Retired

38%

62%

No. of Email ids of self employed people

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 29

25%

50%

25%

How frequently retired people use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 30


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Recommendations

I would recommend all the readers of this paper to do the following, if they don‘t do so already:-

• Do not keep the same password for all your accounts

• Change your passwords regularly

• Do not share your passwords with anyone

• Make your passwords alphanumeric, long and having special characters

• Turn of photo geotag on your smartphones

• Do not allow search engines to link up to your public profiles

• Always use https on public Wi-Fi

• Do not allow people outside your friend list on social networking sites to see your phone no. and email

id

• Turn off location on apps like Facebook Messenger and Twitter app

25%

25%50%

No. of Email ids of retired people

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 31


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Limitations

• During the study, I made a questionnaire (Appendix A) to collect the data. I did not know the

mood of the people while filling in this information.

• In the introduction section, I have mentioned a cyber-crime case. I did not remember it perfect-

ly, which is why there might be minor changes to the original story.

• We did not have enough data from the age group 55 - 64 years old

• We did not have enough data from occupations other than the ones mentioned above


Abhiraj Lamba ©

References

1) Debatin, B., Lovejoy, J. P., Horn, A.-K. and Hughes, B. N. (2009), Facebook and Online Pri-

vacy: Attitudes, Behaviors, and Unintended Consequences. Journal of Computer-Mediated

Communication, 15: 83–108. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01494.x from

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01494.x/full

2) Govani, T., & Pashley, H. (2005). Student awareness of the privacy implications when using

Facebook. Carnegie Mellon. Retrieved May 5, 2007, from

http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/fa05/tubzhlp.pdf

3) Danah M. Boyd&Nicole B. Ellison (2008). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and

Scholarship. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x from

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/asset/j.1083-

6101.2007.00393.x.pdf?v=1&t=i5j4mpnm&s=2a84950a82600622e3e15984893f295dc88893

94

4) Harvey Jones& Jos´e Hiram Soltren (2005, December 14) Facebook: Threats to Privacy from

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/student-papers/fall05-papers/facebook.pdf

5) Facebook Data Policy from https://www.facebook.com/policy.php

6) Atul Kumar & Chiranshu Ahuja (2014). Cyber Security Research Developments Global and

Indian Context from

https://www.dsci.in/sites/default/files/Cyber%20Security%20Research%20Developments%2

0_Global%20and%20Indian%20Context%20.pdf

7) IT Act of India 2000 from http://www.cyberlawsindia.net/Information-technology-act-of-

india.html

8) Cyber Law Cases in India and World from http://www.cyberlawsindia.net/cases.html

http://lorrie.cranor.org/courses/fa05/tubzhlp.pdf

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x/asset/j.1083-6101.2007.00393.x.pdf?v=1&t=i5j4mpnm&s=2a84950a82600622e3e15984893f295dc8889394



http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/student-papers/fall05-papers/facebook.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/policy.php

https://www.dsci.in/sites/default/files/Cyber%20Security%20Research%20Developments%20_Global%20and%20Indian%20Context%20.pdf

https://www.dsci.in/sites/default/files/Cyber%20Security%20Research%20Developments%20_Global%20and%20Indian%20Context%20.pdf

http://www.cyberlawsindia.net/Information-technology-act-of-india.html

http://www.cyberlawsindia.net/Information-technology-act-of-india.html

http://www.cyberlawsindia.net/cases.html


Abhiraj Lamba ©

9) Internet Crime from http://www.cyberlawsindia.net/internet-crime.html

10) Advantages of Cyber Laws from http://www.cyberlawsindia.net/advantage.html

http://www.cyberlawsindia.net/internet-crime.html


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Appendix A

Sample Questionnaire

Survey Study - Online Privacy: Do Indians Care?

(Please only answer this if you are a resident of India. Your data will be kept confidential. Please

fill everything applicable to you some things are not required because they are applicable only to

a few.)

*Required

What is your name? *

_________________

How old are you? *

(If you are under 9, this survey is not for you.)

• 9 - 17 years old







• Above 75 years old

What is your gender? *

• Male

• Female

Which state or union territory are you from? *

___________________________


Abhiraj Lamba ©

What is your employment status? *

• Employed for wages

• Self-employed

• Out of work and looking for work

• Out of work but not currently looking for work

• A homemaker

• A student

• Military

• Retired

• Unable to work

Do you have a smartphone with internet facilities?

• Yes

• No

How frequently do you use the web? *

• Rarely

• Seldom

• Quite Frequently

Do you have an email id? *

• Yes

• No

If yes then how many?

(Only personal email ids, not official)

• 1


Abhiraj Lamba ©

• 2 - 3

• More than 3

Do you use social networking sites? *

• Yes

• No

If yes, then what all sites do you use?

____________________________

Do you use any online service which takes some data from you and requires a password *

(You can submit this form after answering this question if your answer is no. Also this answer

includes the previously mentioned accounts.)

• Yes

• No

Do you think you protect your data well enough?

• Yes

• No

Do you keep the same password for all your accounts?

• Yes

• No

Do you try to make your password as secure as possible?

(i.e. keep special characters like @!$£%^, make it long, make it a mix of capital and lowercase

letters)

• Yes

• No


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Do you change your password regularly?

• Yes

• No

Have you ever shared any of your passwords with anyone?

• Yes

• No

Is your password related to any significant detail of your life?

• Yes

• No

Is your smartphone photo geotag on?

• Yes

• No

• I Don't Know

• I don't have a smartphone

Do you allow search engines to link up to your public profiles?

• Yes

• No

Do you use https on the websites you open?

• Yes

• No

• I Don't Know

If you have given your phone no. and email id on any social networking site, can people outside

your friend list see it? *


Abhiraj Lamba ©

• Yes

• No

• I don't share this info on the net

Have you turned off location on Facebook Messenger and the Twitter app or any other similar

platforms?

• Yes

• No

• I don't use such apps

• I don't have a phone with access to such apps


Abhiraj Lamba ©

Appendix B

Pie Charts used in the Paper

65%

35%

People who think they protect their data

well enough

Yes

No

Figure 1

73%

27%

People who actually seem to care about

their online privacy

Yes

No

Figure 2


Abhiraj Lamba ©

56%

14%

30%

Popular Social Networking Sites

Facebook

Twitter

Others

Figure 3

88%

12%

People using social networking sites

Yes

No

Figure 4


Abhiraj Lamba ©

83%

17%

People with Smartphones

Yes

No

Figure 5

6%

16%

78%

How frequently people use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 6


Abhiraj Lamba ©

1%

40%

55%

4%

No. of Email ids people have

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 7

4%

24%

72%

How frequently 9 - 17 years olds use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 8


Abhiraj Lamba ©

48%

46%

6%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 9

20%

80%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 10


Abhiraj Lamba ©

10%

90%


web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 11

8%

92%

How frequently 25 - 34 year olds use the

web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 12


Abhiraj Lamba ©

17%

83%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 13

7%

93%


web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 14


Abhiraj Lamba ©

47%53%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 15

100%


web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 16


Abhiraj Lamba ©

29%

57%

14%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 17

50%50%


web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 18


Abhiraj Lamba ©

25%

50%

25%


0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 19

5%

20%

75%

How frequently Males use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 20


Abhiraj Lamba ©

36%

59%

5%

No. of Email ids of Males

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 21

8% 4%

88%

How frequently Females use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 22


Abhiraj Lamba ©

4%

48%48%

No. of Email ids of Females

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 23

20%

80%

How frequently students use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 24


Abhiraj Lamba ©

41%

54%

5%

No. of Email ids of students

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 25

6%

94%

How frequently people employed for wages

use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 26


Abhiraj Lamba ©

25%

69%

6%

No. of Email ids of people employed for

wages

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 27

8%

92%

How frequently self employed people use

the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 28


Abhiraj Lamba ©

38%

62%

No. of Email ids of self employed people

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 29

25%

50%

25%

How frequently retired people use the web

Rarely

Seldom

Quite Frequently

Figure 30


Abhiraj Lamba ©

25%

25%50%

No. of Email ids of retired people

0

1

2 or 3

More than 3

Figure 31

Survey Study - Online Privacy: Do Indians Care?

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