Users' Considerations About Possibilities of Self-protection on Social Networks

• Author: Vida Vili?
• Position: Clinic of Dentistry, Ni?
• Pages: 9-23

Center for Open Access in Science ▪ https://www.centerprode.com/ojls.html

Open Journal for Legal Studies, 2018, 1(1), 9-24.

ISSN (Online) 2620-0619 ▪ https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojls.0101.02009v

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© Authors. Terms and conditions of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) apply.

Correspondence: Vida Vilić, Zetska 6/63, 18000 Niš, SERBIA. E-mail: vila979@gmail.com.

Users’ Considerations About Possibilities

of Self-protection on Social Networks

Vida Vilić

Clinic of Dentistry, Niš

Received 16 February 2018 ▪ Revised 8 May 2018 ▪ Accepted 18 May 2 018

Abstract

The modern world of the Internet has changed significantly w ith the emergence of social

networks. With their popularity and a large number of users, social networks have created a kind

of “control” of the everyday activities of people, their habits, their movability and socializing. In

Serbia, social networ ks became popular in 2006 , while in 2007 the real expansion of social

networks begins. The Internet and social networks provide countless opportunities for getting to

know new people, acquiring and developing personal and professional relationships, creating

different social circumstances; but the opportunities for abuse/misuse of the Internet and social

networks also increased. Discussing the abuse/misuse of the Internet and social networks, aros e

the issue of protecting individual personal ri ghts – the right to privacy, and about how the users

of social networks can contribute in prevention of privacy violation. Certain groups of people are

more likely to be exposed to privacy violation.

Keywords: social networks, social networks’ users , privacy, information privacy, privacy

protection.

1. Introduction

1.1 The scope of perceived problem

The Internet is being used by many people all around the world, who communicate

with each other, enter into different social relations and liaisons, and develop personal and

professional relationships for communication, social networking, and participation in different

social events. According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 63.2% of households

owned a computer in the household in 2014, while 62.8% used the Internet (Statistical Office of

the Republic of Serbia, 2014). The invention and development of the computer are one of the most

outstanding and fascinating results of human thinking and innovation: computers are

omnipresent, absolutely invaluable in all areas of work (Vilić, 2013). The Internet is a global

information system in modern society; it is the World Wide Web, or the “network of networks”,

which consists of a large number of separate computers connected in a network structure. As a

global worldwide network, the Internet gives a global dimension to the virtual space, which means

that it provides an interface between any two points on the planet through cyberspace (Vilić, 2017:

1). Concurrently, cyberspace represents a social space created by merging two types of

communication: communication through computer networks and business communications,

supported by a computer system.