Personvernaspekt ved bruk av søkemotorar på internett

Abstract

This is a master thesis at the Institute of Informatics, University of Oslo. Duration is 30 study points. This thesis is about privacy aspects in relation to usability of internet based search engines. The problem area of the thesis is divided in two: 1) Why privacy aspect are related to the issue of finding personal information with search engines 2) Why privacy aspects are related to the knowledge which the search engines have about their users The theory chapter defines privacy and why it is important. Different definitions are presented and also the privacy law of Norway is outlined. Search engine theory is also presented, and focus is on how it works and what information is logged about their users. A series of interviews is conducted, which shows usability and attitudes towards privacy aspects concerning search engines. The results show, among others, the users concern of keeping control of their personl information on the Internet, and that they ignore the search engines ability to find personal information. The empirical material also show that the users do not think of search engines ability to log information about their users as a privacy threat. The master thesis concludes, among others, that search engines has good abilities to find personal information and to log information about their users. The search engines do not adress these privacy aspects.