When Edward Snowden, the computer analyst and whistle blower, shared revelations regarding top-secret US National Security Agency documents - concerning the PRISM global data surveillance program - it transpired that, since 2007 and without the knowledge or consent of their users, companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Apple have provided the NSA with their data, such as IP addresses, logins, passwords, sent messages, photos, posts and videos. Snowden's revelations widely covered in the media - including social media - sparked a debate about the global reach of surveillance, and additional material published later by WikiLeaks only confirmed the scale of the problem; the right to privacy on the Internet is not respected. Despite growing and affirmed threats of surveillance practices (more associated with totalitarian regimes than democracies), the amount of data that we share on the Internet is constantly increasing; hence, it seems important to know the additional determinants of such a state of affairs. Ubiquitous technologies, at the cost of using them, force us to share data while the corporations and governments of many countries - citing safety considerations and promising various security benefits - are eager to use this data. These revelations confirm that we have a rather illusive sense of control over our data and that those to whom (in good faith) we give our information also have little control over its dissemination - this is why it is extremely important to monitor interest in these topics of surveillance, including the role of macro determinants which can influence it. From a methodological perspective, aspects of working with Google data and tools will be demonstrated - which might be important for scientists interested in working with Internet sources of Big Data and result in influencing the development of the field of Internet research in social sciences.
Substantive objective of proposed research project is to check whether political, economic and social macro-determinants differentiate public interest in topics of surveillance. Comparative analysis will be conducted in 26 EU countries, for which data about public interest in topics of surveillance was estimated based on number of searches for these topics in Google. We are going to verify the hypothesis, that in countries with a higher level of economic development and democracy there is greater public interest in surveillance than in other countries, with a part of the impact of political and economic variables being possibly influenced through general and established interest in politics.
Methodological objective is to develop a technique for analysing Internet data from Google search engine for research in social sciences. The proposed research project is the first in Poland, in which analysis will be conducted using Google Keyword Planner tool. This project will provide a description, which will enable a wide range of researchers in the social sciences to use this tool.
In our analysis, we will use a longitudinal multilevel model with fixed occasions (Hox, 2002).
