A peak into individuals’ perceptions of surveillance

In today's digital world, people leave countless digital traces online. Companies, governments, and other parties can use such data for different purposes. Personalized advertisements or content that are clearly based on their previous behavior can make consumers feel that they are being followed or monitored, and might describe it as "creepy" and that they feel "watched". Drawing upon a nationally representative sample of the Netherlands (N = 1,994), this study aims to shed light on individuals’ perceptions of surveillance by identifying the perceived sources, purposes, and how it might differ in different media technologies among Dutch adults. Such knowledge can inform us which practices and contexts tend to trigger perceived surveillance. Moreover, we investigate the extent to which certain individual traits, including privacy concerns, technology trust, conspiracy mentality, and socio-demographic characteristics, relate to perceived surveillance. Our findings show that advertisers are the most commonly perceived source of surveillance and advertising is also the most commonly perceived purpose of surveillance. Perceived surveillance is the highest when people are using social media and web browsers comparing to other digital devices and services. Furthermore, privacy concerns and conspiracy mentality are positively related to perceived surveillance of all types of technologies. Finally, people who are younger and more highly educated perceive more surveillance when using social media, and younger people also feel more surveilled when using web browser.