IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2014 - 54

which causes various problems and
does not necessarily provide a sufficient level of protection. VPN
connections often fail without any
warning, while users continue to
access the Internet through a nonsecure, non-VPN protected link.
This leaves users exposed to interception and monitoring at a local

User Understanding
of Privacy Threats

Blackberry provides many
security features, and uses strong
public key encryption as a key to
its security design. However, the
business model of the BIS and BES
services [10] applied in the Blackberry technology has significant
shortcomings for non-business
users. There is no alternative to the

User Content Blocking and
Traffic Filtering Awareness
It became apparent in the early
months of this study that mobile
communications is an area where
a considerable amount of data
and information about the mobile
markets and operators is available,
while at the same time no independent data is available on the use of
the mobile networks and handsets.
This is especially true for the security applications that prevent monitoring and interception. Access
of Internet for business, social
or entertainment purposes were
equally distributed applications
with regard to their importance to
the user communities. It was also
found that the type of content filtered differs from one country to
another. Phishing and gambling are
less prohibited (only in three countries is this type of traffic filtered).
Secondly, mainstream political,
religious, and adult-only content is
filtered in all of the analyzed countries. Similar treatment is applied

Privacy protection becomes
a difficult task for less-skilled
handset owners.
level. This feature was corrected
in the later versions of the Android
OS. An open VPN also requires
phone "rooting," which in itself is
an added security risk. Rooting is a
process that allows users to install
different versions of the OS, which
grant them complete administrative access to the OS. With only
one user-unfriendly VPN system,
and only Skype and SIP applications for safe voice services, Symbian offers limited circumvention
options to its users.

standard Blackberry circumvention tools for non-business users.
The Windows phone was by far
the least secure choice among the
major mobile operating systems
[11]. The only mitigating factor
was the low volume of the Windows phone sales in the countries
we surveyed. According to the
results of our survey and the operating system statistics retrieved
from the Statcounter [12], the
number of Windows phone users
was barely measurable.

What Is Your Skill Level as a Mobile Internet User?

100
90
80
70
(%)

60
50
40
30
20
10

ge
Av
er
a

Tu
ni
s

la
ru
s
Be

na
m
et
Vi

ta
is

ria
Sy

U
zb
ek

ud
i

ab
ia

an
O
m

Ira
n

a
hi
n
C

Az
er
b

ai
ja

Beginner (E-mail, Basic Internet Browsing)
Intermediate (Blogging, Socialnet Working Online)
Advanced (Programming, Web Development)

Fig.3. The level of user community skills per country.
54

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

WINTER 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2014