Google or privacy, the inevitable trade-off

Abstract

This paper investigates the privacy awareness of a group of Norwegian Google users and their understanding of the personal data Google amasses from them. The study also investigates the trade-off between Google services and privacy. A convergent/mixed design method is used in survey research, where qualitative and quantitative data is collected at the same time. For this purpose, a semi-structured questionnaire was distributed. The study shows that Norwegian Google users are aware about the privacy implications of using Google, however, a significant number of them did not take stapes to protect their privacy, such as changing default privacy settings in their Google accounts. The sample shows familiarity with some of the types of personal data Google amasses and unfamiliarity with other types of personal data collected both with and without their consent, or without them noticing. The study shows Norwegian users generally do not feel they are exploited by Google, they appreciate the usefulness of Google’s services, despite the harsh critics on Google’s privacy practices.