User awareness and tolerance of privacy abuse on mobile Internet: An exploratory study

• User awareness regarding privacy abuse.
• Mobile market development.
• Influential factors on user awareness regarding internet content blocking.
• Relationship between country level development and the user tolerance regarding privacy abuse.

The paper presents the results of an exploratory study about the level of privacy abuse and the awareness level of users when communicating and using mobile Internet. The study looks into the relationships and associations between the telecommunications market developmental level, the wealth of a country, users’ skills, the affordability of mobile technologies, the level of user tolerance of state-mandated content censorship, and related privacy threats. The results and findings are drawn from a collection of data gathered from ten countries which have a low reputation for respecting human rights. These countries are primarily Asian or African states. Differences within the user community tolerance levels are discussed from the perspective of the key parameters which define the level of development of the information society and also the user skill levels. For a better understanding of the issue, a brief introduction explains the capacity of smartphones to ensure user privacy, and availability of the circumvention tools for smartphones.