App and Platform Surveillance: Perceptions and Experiences of Young Adults in Turkey
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Authors
Girgin, Ozge
Date
2024-09-13
Type
thesis
Language
eng
Keyword
Platform Surveillance , app surveillance , platforms , dataveillance , surveillance , young adults , Turkey , smartphones , perceptions , experiences , surveillance imaginaries , personalization , personalization algorithms , interviews , focus groups , qualititative research
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Abstract
This dissertation analyzes how young adults in Turkey understand, experience, assess and engage with commercial surveillance of apps and platforms through their smartphones. Through qualitative one-to-one and focus group interviews, the dissertation reveals the disjuncture between the data that young adults consider important and the data in which corporations are interested. Interviewees express concerns about social surveillance, cyber security threats, fraudsters, the direct sale of their personally identifiable information, and unsolicited marketing – issues they associate with immediate financial and social harm. These concerns shape interviewees’ priorities in their relationship with apps and platforms, with most considering content and personally identifiable information, rather than other data types like metadata. Many interviewees view apps from global or national corporations, such as Facebook Inc. or Google, as more trustworthy and legally accountable in relation to retaining their data. While interviewees’ awareness of apps’ data practices and approach to their data is contextual and varies on a spectrum, most users are unaware of the extent and consequences of platform surveillance. Interviewees’ references to Cambridge Analytica scandal highlight the importance of sensational events and news in raising awareness about the significance of data collection. However, the interviewees interpret global news about surveillance based on the priorities in the Turkish context. The media's focus on the USA in discussing the Cambridge Analytica scandal distances some interviewees from the event, leading them to overlook its implications for a person in Turkey. Local surveillance practices, such as social, governmental, or administrative surveillance, further shape interviewees' priorities, surveillance imaginaries and perceptions of risk. The dissertation argues that interviewees conceptualize surveillance by global platforms as a service. They recognize that personalized suggestions are based on their previous activities and find these recommendations desirable and necessary, viewing them as evidence of platforms performing well. Interviewees learn to interact with platforms through engagement with personalized recommendations. They develop tactics to use personalization systems to their advantage, to overcome misrecognition or to avoid issues they find problematic. The use of these tactics indicates that interviewees care about platform surveillance, albeit differently from how they view surveillance by other institutions.
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Queen's University's Thesis/Dissertation Non-Exclusive License for Deposit to QSpace and Library and Archives Canada
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Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.
ProQuest PhD and Master's Theses International Dissemination Agreement
Intellectual Property Guidelines at Queen's University
Copying and Preserving Your Thesis
This publication is made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws without written authority from the copyright owner.