PRIVACY CONCERNS ON THE INTERNET: INVESTIGATING THE ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS OF YOUNG INTERNET USERS TO ONLINE ANONYMITY
PRIVACY CONCERNS ON THE INTERNET: INVESTIGATING THE ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS OF YOUNG INTERNET USERS TO ONLINE ANONYMITY

Summary/Abstract: Privacy on the Internet is a multi-faceted issue that requires attention on the user’s part, both to protect information from third-party data collection and to manage personal impressions across a variety of contexts and relationships (Ellison, et al, 2011). This study investigated the notion of online anonymity, as a privacy issue, among young Internet users in Nigeria. Situated within the framework of the deindividuation, uses and gratifications, and technological determinism theories, the research was designed as a survey. A sample of 400 respondents was selected from the study population (which was the undergraduate students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, in South-East Nigeria) and a structured questionnaire employed as the data collection instrument. Findings showed that online anonymity is common among a significant part of the users; and that they utilise online anonymity mainly for the purposes of protecting their privacy, shielding themselves against fraud and other Internet harms and abuses, and for fun. Similarly, it was found that while the youths perceive online anonymity as socially beneficial, they at the same time view it as potentially destructive. The study also discovered that anonymity has not had significant impact on the Internet use habit of the respondents. This means that it is not a motivating factor that draws them to the Internet, and that it has neither made them feel free to communicate nor lured majority of them towards communications that are ethically and legally undesirable.

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