Geoprivacy Attitudes and Personal Location Masking Strategies of Internet Users, California, 2017-2018

This study contains the results of an online survey testing geoprivacy-related attitudes and behavior among adult California internet users. The major goals of this project are to examine public attitudes towards geoprivacy and the extent to which Internet users attempt to obscure or mask their locations. This project specifically tests the propensity of individuals to provide a precise and accurate home location when prompted. Hypothesized intervening variables for predicting personal location masking behavior collected in this survey are rural location, previous privacy infringement, experience with hacking or identity theft, and knowledge of location identifying power. The survey achieved a total of 214 responses, with 113 respondents from a probability postal address-based sample and 101 respondents from an open online sample.