Problems relating to the adoption of potentially privacy-invading technologies

Abstract

The parallel trends of Moore's Law, the growth of modern telecommunications networks, and the increasing prevalence of mobile and smart devices make possible the development of a wide range of new technologies. However, some of these technologies may be perceived to threaten privacy. For example, the pervasive usage of RFID in the form of smartcards, observed widely in the world, have the potential to reveal private information without the user being aware of it (Uesugi and Okada, 2008). If this perceived threat is not addressed, adoption of potentially privacy-invading technologies (PPITs) may be low as a result and the full benefit of telecommunications networks may not be realised. Using Goldberg's (1990) Five-Factor model of personality traits, Uesugi et al. (forthcoming) investigated consumers' comfort levels with PPITs with which they are not familiar and suggest that an individual's score in the Neuroticism factor might influence their decision of whether or not to reject a potentially privacy-invading technology. Uesugi et al. concluded with a call for further analysis of issues surrounding the decision to use or to reject PPITs. One particularly important area is international comparisons to establish whether the phenomena being investigated are unique to Japan or are more generalisable. This paper therefore continues the work of Uesugi et al. by comparing parallel studies, one from Japan and one from Australia. Differences and similarities between the two studies are discussed and the implications for the adoption for PPITs are discussed.