Data capitalism and the user: An exploration of privacy cynicism in Germany

TLDR

Empirical studies reveal only a weak link between privacy concerns and behavior, prompting theories such as privacy calculus, literacy, contextual differentiation, and concepts of resignation, apathy, or fatigue to explain the privacy paradox. This paper focuses on privacy cynicism—a sense of uncertainty, powerlessness, mistrust, and resignation toward data handling by online services that renders privacy protection subjectively futile. We frame privacy cynicism as a coping mechanism within data capitalism, introduce a new measure, and examine it using a large‑scale German survey. The analysis shows that privacy cynicism is multidimensional, with distinct relationships to privacy concerns, threat experience, Internet skills, and protection behavior.

Abstract

Ever since empirical studies found only a weak, if any, relationship between privacy concerns and privacy behavior, scholars have struggled to explain the so-called privacy paradox. Today, a number of theoretical arguments illuminate users’ privacy rationales, including the privacy calculus, privacy literacy, and contextual differentiations. A recent approach focuses on user resignation, apathy, or fatigue. In this piece, we concentrate on privacy cynicism, an attitude of uncertainty, powerlessness, mistrust, and resignation toward data handling by online services that renders privacy protection subjectively futile. We discuss privacy cynicism in the context of data capitalism, as a coping mechanism to address the tension between digital inclusion and a desire for privacy. Moreover, we introduce a measure for privacy cynicism and investigate the phenomenon based on a large-scale survey in Germany. The analysis highlights the multidimensionality of the construct, differentiating its relationships with privacy concerns, threat experience, Internet skills, and protection behavior.