Judith Rauhofer discusses online privacy protection strategies with BBC Scotland

Judith Rauhofer, Lecturer in IT Law, was interviewed by the Good Morning Scotland programme on BBC Scotland Radio last week.

During the interview Judith discussed current issues facing digital users through the collection of personal data carried out by online services and sites through technology such as cookies.

Judith presented three potential problems with this kind of data collection for the user:

1. Manipulation of the user caused by one party in the relationship knowing more about the other.

2. Price or service discrimination to other online services/companies, caused by data knowledge allowing certain services to offer users reduced price services.

3. Narrowing of the user’s world-view by sites displaying information on a user’s individual view of the site, that has been shown to be of interest to the user, such as on the Facebook timeline.

Judith concluded the interview by suggesting some strategies for users to reduce their risk of harm through online data collection, including avoidance and minimisation of data they provide on online forms.

The full interview can be listened to here.