Purpose

This investigation aims to examine the differences and similarities between activity tracking technology users from two regions (the USA and Germany) in their intended privacy-related behavior. The focus lies on data handling after hypothetical discontinuance of use, data protection and privacy policy seeking, and privacy concerns.

Design/methodology/approach

The data was collected through an online survey in 2019. In order to identify significant differences between participants from Germany and the USA, the chi-squared test and the Mann–Whitney U test were applied.

Findings

The intensity of several privacy-related concerns was significantly different between the two groups. The majority of the participants did not inform themselves about the respective data privacy policies or terms and conditions before installing an activity tracking application. The majority of the German participants knew that they could request the deletion of all their collected data. In contrast, only 35% out of 68 participants from the US knew about this option.

Research limitations/implications

This study intends to raise awareness about managing the collected health and fitness data after stopping to use activity tracking technologies. Furthermore, to reduce privacy and security concerns, the involvement of the government, companies and users is necessary to handle and share data more considerably and in a sustainable way.

Originality/value

This study sheds light on users of activity tracking technologies from a broad perspective (here, participants from the USA and Germany). It incorporates not only concerns and the privacy paradox but (intended) user behavior, including seeking information on data protection and privacy policy and handling data after hypothetical discontinuance of use of the technology.

中文翻译：

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来自德国和美国的与数据隐私相关的行为和活动跟踪技术用户的关注

目的

这项调查旨在检查来自两个地区（美国和德国）的活动跟踪技术用户在其预期的隐私相关行为方面的差异和相似性。重点在于假设停止使用后的数据处理，数据保护和隐私政策寻求以及隐私问题。

设计/方法/方法

数据是通过2019年的在线调查收集的。为了确定德国和美国参与者之间的显着差异，应用了卡方检验和Mann-Whitney U检验。

发现

两组之间几个与隐私相关的关注的强度明显不同。在安装活动跟踪应用程序之前，大多数参与者没有告知自己各自的数据隐私政策或条款和条件。大多数德国参与者知道他们可以要求删除所有收集的数据。相比之下，来自美国的68名参与者中只有35％知道这种选择。

研究局限/意义

这项研究旨在提高人们在停止使用活动跟踪技术后对收集的健康和健身数据进行管理的意识。此外，为了减少隐私和安全问题，政府，公司和用户的参与对于更大量和可持续地处理和共享数据非常必要。

创意/价值

这项研究从广泛的角度阐明了活动跟踪技术的用户（此处为来自美国和德国的参与者）。它不仅包含关注点和隐私悖论，而且还包含（预期的）用户行为，包括在假设停止使用该技术之后寻求有关数据保护和隐私政策的信息以及处理数据。