Privacy and Security Issues of Mobile Phone: Perceptions of University Students

Mobile phone industry experiences one of the fastest rate in Bangladesh in South Asian region. Subscriber penetration reached 40% at the beginning of 2014 and it is expected to grow to 50% by 2020 (GSMA, 2014). Bangladesh has 9 core users of mobile phone at present out its 15 core population. When this mobile industry is booming, the safety and security issues related to the use of mobile phone become very serious concern for both users and regulators. The privacy and security issues of mobile phone users have become a major concern. This study concerns about how personal, social and economic safety and security, and privacy issues related to the misuse of mobile phone (threat, harassment and….). This study also concerns whether the crime committing has become more organized with the help of mobile technology and whether there should be a clear law to protect general people from harassment through mobile phone. The target population for his study is the students of private universities in Dhaka. The sample size is one hundred. The structured questionnaire based on Likert scale has been used to ask the respondents to indicate their agreement or disagreement on a five point scale ranging from strongly agrees. The study comes up with the findings that misuse of mobile phone (threat, harassment and …..), is a regular activity and as a result, the students do not trust the use of mobile phone anymore. Security issue could come up due to phone tapping by government, access to call list by unauthorized people, etc. Privacy issues come up from exposing the personal mobile to public, un-timely call, un-wanted call, etc. The respondents blame the government for lack of law to protect the interest of the users. A strong pro-user regulatory board is expected by them. The study also finds that the security concerns will be more significant in the coming days than before.