Colleagues/ Another recently announced dissertation on Social Networking Sites: Social Networking Sites and the Surveillance Society. A Critical Case Study of the Usage of studiVZ, Facebook, and MySpace by Students in Salzburg in the Context of Electronic Surveillance / Fuchs, Christian. 2009. Salzburg / Vienna: Research Group UTI. ISBN 978-3-200-01428. 145 pp. /Gerry 674 students from Salzburg participated in the study that was conducted by the eTheory Research Group (University of Salzburg, ICT&S Center). 88.3% of the respondents use studiVZ, 39.5% Facebook, 15.9% MySpace, 9.0% Xing, 7.4% Lokalisten. Each of 61 other social networking sites (SNS) is used by less than 1%. [snip] 59.1% of the respondents see the maintenance of social contacts as the biggest advantage of SNS, 55.7% say that economic and political surveillance is the greatest risk. [snip] 81.8% of the respondents have little knowledge about concrete data surveillance in Europe (e.g. the Data Retention Directive or the Austrian Security Police Act). But 67.4% have a critical standpoint towards surveillance. 88.7% of the studiVZ users have good or very good knowledge about what happens with their data on the platform. The same is true for only 35.9% of Facebook users and 22.6% of MySpace users. [snip] The study recommends that citizens see commercial Internet platforms that store and evaluate personal data generally critically and that by establishing special consumer protection websites it could be documented in the public, which rights in dealing with personal data such platforms obtain by their terms of use and their privacy terms. [snip] The expertise of the study will be part of the Europe-wide research project "Living in Surveillance Societies" of the European Science Foundation, in which Christian Fuchs represents Austria in the management committee Links to Full Text of The Dissertation (English and/or German) Available At [ http://tinyurl.com/bz9t5s ] Also: UnRelated/Related: Brazil (The Film) Enjoy! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck@iastate.edu There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor Hugo [ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ] Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows [ http://alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/ ]