The Internet Trust Bubble: Global Values, Beliefs and Practices

This paper outlines the social innovations currently confronting the Internet. Considering the changing population of users as well as their resulting experiences online, the paper examines the ways in which these two things could be having an effect on the attitudes, beliefs, and practices. After an extensive survey of countries around the globe, this paper finds that there is support for the values and attitudes underpinning freedom of expression on the Internet. With users in countries where the Internet world has only more recently started to take off, individuals are found to be less complacent and more supportive of freedom of expression online than are users of the countries where the Internet has been a prevalent part of society for a long time now. The paper concludes that there needs to be global initiatives to recognize the support underpinning freedom of expression and privacy, while also raising awareness of the risks that these values post. Users ought to be educated about measures that they can take to enhance their ability to protect themselves.