The Impact of Security and Privacy Concerns on Home Internet Use by Parents and Children

Internet users’ choices about their extent and types of usage and the types of precautions they take for their online security and privacy is an increasingly important research topic. As business and personal Internet usage grows so do concerns about misuse and abuse leading to financial loss or breaches of privacy. For the younger user, the risk of sexual exploitation from misuse is a particular concern. Effective mitigation of these risks is critical to the full achievement of the benefits the Internet can offer in e-commerce, e-learning, business and social communication. The interrelations between comfort with sensitive Internet use, security measures taken, and the types of Internet usage among home Internet users has not been extensively examined. We plan to empirically examine these interactions and to then extend our analysis to examine the impact of parental attitudes, usage, and controls on the level and types of Internet usage.