Ethical Dilemmas About Social Network Sites – A View From Romania

Abstract

In contemporary society, the ubiquity of technology has led, somewhat inevitably, to a series of theoretical and practical concerns related to the problems caused by the security of personal data in an interconnected world. The case of “Cambridge Analytica” - Facebook indicated serious legal and practical issues in protecting users’ personal data. This paper presents the previously mentioned phenomenon, its impact on the Romanian population, and the degree of information of Romanian citizens on this subject. From a methodological point of view, the method used was the survey based on a questionnaire, applied to a sample of 220 subjects in April-June 2022. The analysis results indicate that most respondents (88%) consider online data theft personally as a crime. Although 54% of respondents stated that they do not agree with the use of personal data without their consent, 51.1% of respondents considered that they do not agree that the legislation be amended to further protect against the misuse of personal data by online companies. Starting from the analysis of the obtained results, the present paper concludes in favor of public awareness and information campaigns regarding the ethical and legal measures necessary for the protection of the personal data of internet users.

Keywords

• social network sites
• ethics
• public opinion
• personal data protection