Ensuring user anonymity in online surveys
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30837/rt.2024.4.219.03Keywords:
anonymity, privacy, online surveys, JavaScript, trackers, pseudonymization, data protectionAbstract
The paper addresses the pressing issue of ensuring user anonymity during online surveys. The privacy risks associated with JavaScript are analyzed, which, on the one hand, provides interactivity and convenience of surveys, and on the other hand, creates a threat of data leakage through trackers and third-party scripts. It is noted that many survey platforms integrate third-party scripts that can collect users' personal information without their consent.
The paper provides an overview of existing privacy protection tools. It was found that the most popular tool among users is the Adblock Plus browser extension. The most popular platforms for online surveys (Google Forms, SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Xoyondo and others) are analyzed in terms of their ability to ensure user privacy. It was found that the level of protection varies from completely blocking scripts to their almost unlimited use.
An experimental study was conducted on the Windows 11 Pro x64 operating system using the IDE PyCharm 2024.3.1.1 (Community Edition) for writing Python code. It was found that the Ghostery tool is capable of blocking up to 87% of third-party scripts that could potentially affect user anonymity. It is shown that the Google Forms platform provides the best level of user anonymity among the considered applications. Further research on user anonymity applying machine learning methods is relevant and necessary, as it will enable more effective identification of obfuscated code.
References
Ikram M., Asghar H.J., Kaafar M.A., Krishnamurthy B., Mahanti A. Towards Seamless Tracking-Free Web: Improved Detection of Trackers via One-class Learning. arXiv 2017, arXiv:1603.06289.
Kalavri V., Blackburn J., Varvello M., Papagiannaki K. Like a Pack of Wolves: Community Structure of Web Trackers // Proceedings of the International Conference on Passive and Active Network Measurement (PAM), Heraklion, Greece, 31 March–1 April 2016; Springer : Berlin/Heidelberg, Germany, 2016, pp. 42–54.
18 сервісів для проведення опитувань [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://www.plerdy.com/ua/blog/18-servisov-dlja-provedenija-oprosov/.
Your digital marketing strategy backed by real, actionable data [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://ahrefs.com/.
Bouhnik D., Carmi G. Interface Application Comprehensive Analysis of Ghostery // J. Comput. Syst. 2018. No 5. P. 4–10.
Privacy badger. Electronic Frontier Foundation [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://privacybadger.org/.
UBlock origin – free, open-source ad content blocker. uBlock Origin [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://ublockorigin.com/
Adblock Plus | The world's #1 free ad blocker [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://adblockplus.org/.
What is it? – noscript: own your browser! [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://www.noscript.net/.
Disconnect. [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://disconnect.me/.
Bubukayr M., Frikha M. Effective techniques for protecting the privacy of web users // Applied sciences. 2023. V. 13, No 5. С. 3191.
Chrome DevTools Protocol [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://chromedevtools.github.io/devtools-protocol/.
Selenium. [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://www.selenium.dev/.
SurveyMonkey: the world’s most popular survey platform [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://www.surveymonkey.com/.
Typeform: people-friendly forms and surveys [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://www.typeform.com/
Xoyondo. Легкі планування та опитування [Електронний ресурс]. Режим доступу: https://xoyondo.com/.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
