Understanding the Information Privacy Concerns of Digital Contact Tracing Application Users

Abstract

Given the anticipated instrumentality of digital Contact Tracing Applications (CTAs) in tracing the sources of infectious diseases, such applications have not been widely adopted by the general public. One major barrier to the diffusion of CTAs is public concerns about the privacy of their information. In this study, we first measured the attitudes of Canadians toward the nature of information privacy. We then distinguished and measured general and specific information privacy concerns of Canadians to better understand such concerns in the context of CTAs. Finally, we explored the potential associations between participants’ attitudes toward information privacy and their major information privacy concerns. Our results shed light on the relative importance of various types of information privacy concerns in general and in relation to CTAs, and how such concerns might be affected by one’s attitudes toward information privacy.