Perspective of Young People about Security and Privacy on Social Networks

Abstract

Young people currently live and are connected to the virtual world in a natural,
simple way. Nevertheless, in spite of the great advantages of the use of Information
and Communication Technology, and particularly social networks, there are
several drawbacks, principally security and privacy of net users. The present work
proposes a study to determine and analyze the different aspects related mainly to
security and privacy perception of teenagers when using Virtual Social Networks.
A methodology based on a survey consisting on 27 questions has been carried out
on a 170 teenagers, aged between 12 and 16 years, through which was revealed a
lack of knowledge of privacy and protection mechanisms that Virtual Social Network
implement, detecting a lack of awareness and sensibility about the problems that a
thoughtless use of these social networks can cause, regarding privacy, security and
even their own image.