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Research on online user privacy shows that empirical evidence on how privacy literacy relates to users' information privacy empowerment is missing. To fill this gap, this paper investigated the respective influence of two primary dimensions of online privacy literacy – namely declarative and procedural knowledge – on online users' information privacy empowerment.

An empirical analysis is conducted using a dataset collected in Europe. This survey was conducted in 2019 among 27,524 representative respondents of the European population.

The main results show that users' procedural knowledge is positively linked to users' privacy empowerment. The relationship between users' declarative knowledge and users' privacy empowerment is partially supported. While greater awareness about firms and organizations practices in terms of data collections and further uses conditions was found to be significantly associated with increased users' privacy empowerment, unpredictably, results revealed that the awareness about the GDPR and user’s privacy empowerment are negatively associated. The empirical findings reveal also that greater online privacy literacy is associated with heightened users' information privacy empowerment.

While few advanced studies made systematic efforts to measure changes occurred on websites since the GDPR enforcement, it remains unclear, however, how individuals perceive, understand and apply the GDPR rights/guarantees and their likelihood to strengthen users' information privacy control. Therefore, this paper contributes empirically to understanding how online users' privacy literacy shaped by both users' declarative and procedural knowledge is likely to affect users' information privacy empowerment. The study empirically investigates the effectiveness of the GDPR in raising users' information privacy empowerment from user-based perspective. Results stress the importance of greater transparency of data tracking and processing decisions made by online businesses and services to strengthen users' control over information privacy. Study findings also put emphasis on the crucial need for more educational efforts to raise users' awareness about the GDPR rights/guarantees related to data protection. Empirical findings also show that users who are more likely to adopt self-protective approaches to reinforce personal data privacy are more likely to perceive greater control over personal data. A broad implication of this finding for practitioners and E-businesses stresses the need for empowering users with adequate privacy protection tools to ensure more confidential transactions.

The research aims to investigate how individuals can be persuaded to make purchases through repeated and personalized messages. Specifically, the study proposes a framework of the potential benefits and risks of the online behavioral and data-driven digital advertising (OBA), which can help researchers and practitioners to better understand shopping behavior in the online retailing setting. In addition, the research focuses on the role of privacy concerns in affecting avoidance or adoption of OBA.

The authors apply a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach with partial least square (PLS) regression method to test the research hypotheses through data coming from a structured questionnaire.

OBA is a controversial type of advertising that activates opposing reactions on consumers' perspective. Specifically, acceptance of the OBA is positively related to relevance, usefulness and credibility of the personalized advertisements, while the intention to avoid personalized ads is strictly related to the privacy concerns. Consequently, OBA acceptance and avoidance affected the click intention on the ad and the behavioral intention that are decisive for the success of data-driven digital advertising.

Prior research came up with complex theoretical frameworks that explain antecedents of OBA focusing only on ethical issues in marketing, on the effectiveness of a single OBA campaign or on how to create a successful advertising campaign. However, no study focuses on the intended or actual behavior of shoppers. Specifically, filling the gap in the existing literature, our research applies an SEM approach to identify both benefits and risks and the antecedents of the actual behavior of individuals in terms of actual purchases promoted by OBA.

With the developments of the digital era and considerable developments in ICT, advertisers are leveraging data-driven forms of online advertising to target consumers individually. The present study integrates privacy concerns with the constructs from the persuasion knowledge model to investigate consumer avoidance of online behavioural advertising (OBA).

The study employed an online survey method for data collection using a sample size of 345. Reliability and validity of the measurement scales were ensured, and hypotheses developed were tested through PLS-SEM using SMART PLS.

The results show that persuasion knowledge is a significant predictor of perceived benefits, perceived risks and privacy concerns. Also, privacy concern was found to significantly mediate persuasion knowledge-avoidance behaviour and perceived risk-avoidance behaviour. On the other hand, the perceived benefit was not found significant in influencing privacy concerns for OBA.

The present study is one of the initial attempts to understand the level of knowledge Indian consumers hold about OBA and how they evaluate and respond to these data-driven forms of advertising. The current study helps advance knowledge of the field and the theories used. Future studies might look at the effect of various demographic and psychographic aspects on consumer avoidance of OBA.

As the country is shifting to digital, it becomes really important to understand the privacy concerns that people perceive in regard with the current advertising practices.

This study investigates perceptions of the use of online tracking, a passive data collection method relying on the automated recording of participant actions on desktop and mobile devices, for studying information behavior. It scrutinizes folk theories of tracking, the concerns tracking raises among the potential participants and design mechanisms that can be used to alleviate these concerns.

This study uses focus groups composed of university students (n = 13) to conduct an in-depth investigation of tracking perceptions in the context of information behavior research. Each focus group addresses three thematic blocks: (1) views on online tracking as a research technique, (2) concerns that influence participants' willingness to be tracked and (3) design mechanisms via which tracking-related concerns can be alleviated. To facilitate the discussion, each focus group combines open questions with card-sorting tasks. The results are analyzed using a combination of deductive content analysis and constant comparison analysis, with the main coding categories corresponding to the thematic blocks listed above.

The study finds that perceptions of tracking are influenced by recent data-related scandals (e.g. Cambridge Analytica), which have amplified negative attitudes toward tracking, which is viewed as a surveillance tool used by corporations and governments. This study also confirms the contextual nature of tracking-related concerns, which vary depending on the activities and content that are tracked. In terms of mechanisms used to address these concerns, this study highlights the importance of transparency-based mechanisms, particularly explanations dealing with the aims and methods of data collection, followed by privacy- and control-based mechanisms.

The study conducts a detailed examination of tracking perceptions and discusses how this research method can be used to increase engagement and empower participants involved in information behavior research.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how much visual attention is given to banner ads embedded in Web page content dependent on whether the user’s task is goal- or not goal-oriented, as well as the interplay between attention, banner location, banner click and banner recognition.

The authors used a within-subjects design where 100 participants performed two tasks – reading a news and finding where to click next – on a Web page containing three banner ads embedded into the website content. The authors gathered behavioral and eye-tracking data.

Consumers disregard banner ads when they are performing a focused task (reading news). Visual attention paid to the banners while reading – but not while free browsing – and banner location do not impact ad clicking. In addition, it is not necessary to pay full attention to a banner ad to be able to recognize it afterward.

The strategy of embedding banners in the main content of a Web page leads to higher visual attention when consumers are browsing a Web page compared to a focused task (e.g. reading). It also increases ad recognition over time compared to benchmark levels for ads placed in traditional positions.

Previous studies mainly assessed effectiveness of banners located at the top or lateral of a Web page. The authors used eye tracking as an objective measure of visual attention to banner ads embedded in Web page content and behavioral metrics to assess ad interest and measured ad recognition over time.

Investigar cuánta atención visual se presta a los banners publicitarios incrustados en el contenido de una página Web en función de si la tarea del usuario está orientada a un objetivo o no, así como la interacción entre la atención, la ubicación del banner, el clic en el banner y el reconocimiento del banner.

Se utilizó un diseño entre sujetos en el que 100 participantes realizaban dos tareas – leer una noticia y encontrar dónde hacer clic a continuación – en una página Web que contenía tres banners publicitarios incrustados en el contenido del sitio Web. Se recogieron datos conductuales y de seguimiento ocular.

Los consumidores no prestan atención a los banners publicitarios cuando están realizando una tarea concentrada (leer noticias). La atención visual prestada a los banners durante la lectura – pero no durante la navegación libre – y la ubicación de los banners no influyen en el hecho de hacer clic en los anuncios. Además, no es necesario prestar toda la atención a un banner publicitario para poder reconocerlo después.

Los estudios anteriores evaluaban principalmente la eficacia de los banners situados en la parte superior o lateral de una página Web. Nosotros utilizamos el seguimiento ocular como medida objetiva de la atención visual a los banners incrustados en el contenido de la página Web y métricas de comportamiento para evaluar el interés por el anuncio, y medimos el reconocimiento del anuncio a lo largo del tiempo.

La estrategia de incrustar banners en el contenido principal de una página Web aumenta la atención visual de los consumidores cuando navegan por una página Web en comparación con una tarea específica (por ejemplo, leer). También aumenta el reconocimiento del anuncio a lo largo del tiempo en comparación con los niveles de referencia de los anuncios colocados en posiciones tradicionales.

研究用户对嵌入在网页内容中的横幅广告的视觉注意程度, 取决于用户的任务是否以目标为导向, 以及注意、横幅位置、横幅点击和横幅识别之间的相互作用。

我们采用了主体内设计, 100名参与者在一个含有三个嵌入网站内容的横幅广告的网页上执行两项任务–阅读新闻和寻找下一步的点击位置。我们收集了行为和眼球追踪数据。

消费者在执行重点任务（阅读新闻）时忽略了横幅广告。阅读时对横幅广告的视觉关注–而不是自由浏览时–以及横幅广告的位置并不影响广告点击。此外, 不一定要完全注意横幅广告才能在事后认出它。

以前的研究主要评估位于网页顶部或侧面的横幅广告的效果。我们用眼动仪作为对嵌入网页内容的横幅广告的视觉注意力的客观测量, 用行为指标来评估广告的兴趣, 并测量了广告在一段时间内的识别度。

在网页的主要内容中嵌入横幅广告的策略导致消费者在浏览网页时, 与重点任务（如阅读）相比, 视觉注意力更高。与放置在传统位置的广告的基准水平相比, 它也会随着时间的推移增加广告识别度。

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which HTTPS encryption and Google Analytics services have been implemented on academic library websites, and discuss the privacy implications of free services that introduce web tracking of users.

The home pages of 279 academic libraries were analyzed for the presence of HTTPS, Google Analytics services and privacy-protection features.

Results indicate that HTTPS implementation on library websites is not widespread, and many libraries continue to offer non-secured connections without an automatically enforced redirect to a secure connection. Furthermore, a large majority of library websites included in the study have implemented Google Analytics and/or Google Tag Manager, yet only very few connect securely to Google via HTTPS or have implemented Google Analytics IP anonymization.

Librarians are encouraged to increase awareness of this issue and take concerted and coherent action across five interrelated areas: implementing secure web protocols (HTTPS), user education, privacy policies, informed consent and risk/benefit analyses.

Third-party tracking of users is prevalent across the web, and yet few studies demonstrate its extent and consequences for academic library websites.

This study aims to propose an adaptive fractional-order sliding mode controller to solve the problem of train speed tracking control and position interval control under disturbance environment in moving block system, so as to improve the tracking efficiency and collision avoidance performance.

The mathematical model of information interaction between trains is established based on algebraic graph theory, so that the train can obtain the state information of adjacent trains, and then realize the distributed cooperative control of each train. In the controller design, the sliding mode control and fractional calculus are combined to avoid the discontinuous switching phenomenon, so as to suppress the chattering of sliding mode control, and a parameter adaptive law is constructed to approximate the time-varying operating resistance coefficient.

The simulation results show that compared with proportional integral derivative (PID) control and ordinary sliding mode control, the control accuracy of the proposed algorithm in terms of speed is, respectively, improved by 25% and 75%. The error frequency and fluctuation range of the proposed algorithm are reduced in the position error control, the error value tends to 0, and the operation trend tends to be consistent. Therefore, the control method can improve the control accuracy of the system and prove that it has strong immunity.

The algorithm can reduce the influence of external interference in the actual operating environment, realize efficient and stable tracking of trains, and ensure the safety of train control.