Abstract:

Westin (1967) defines information privacy as “the claim of individuals, groups, or institutions to determine for themselves when, how, and to what extent information about them is communicated to others.” Increasingly, information privacy concerns are “an individual’s subjective views of fairness within the context of information privacy” (Malhotra et al., 2004). In a context of m-learning, information privacy has been protected by a mandatory registration process that is tied into any m-learning program, including Moodle. However, prior research on commercial mobile messages permission-based system again SPAM may not be as effective as we expect.

In fact, mobile users are increasingly concerned with fraudulent or deceptive emails. For example, in 2000, a malicious code infiltrated the Japanese mobile Internet system. This code sent numerous wireless users a message with a hypertext link that when clicked, unbeknownst to the users, dialed 110—the Japanese emergency number equivalent to North America’s 911 (Trend Micro, 2001). In 2001, operator NTT DoCoMo's request for a plan to unilaterally block text messages sent to a high number of invalid mobile phone addresses was approved by the Ministry of Public Management (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 2008). This decision was motivated by an abuse by an Internet dating service, which sent up to 900,000 text messages (including 170,000 undeliverable messages) to i-mode users in a single hour. Although Japan does not regulate mobile advertising, the operator NTT DoCoMo was able to obtain the injunction against the dating service because this excess of “promotion” caused service disruptions and system failure (Nihon Keizai Shinbun, 2002).

The problem is unethical information practice is severer for mobile device than for PC for several reasons. First, mobile device is a personal communication medium that can be used on a personal basis, while PC can be shared among multiple users. Second, personal data are easily traceable for mobile users, but not for PC users. Third, anti-virus programs are widely and extensively available for PC but not for mobile. Thus, security system is much more vulnerable in mobile than in PC. In this light, the next section provides a review of the existing literature with an attempt to provide the current state of art on privacy and m-learning.

This paper aims at providing an overview on information privacy concerns related to mobile-based learning or m-learning. Privacy can be endangered in disclosing students’ personal data, such as name, email addresses, phone number, or IP address, which may be misused by third-party firms. Furthermore, anti-virus programs have not been either developed or extended for mobile device as much as for PC. On this basis, the author proposes a research model based on theory of planned behavior.

Keywords:

Higher education, m-learning, privacy concerns, security.