EXPLORING USERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF PRIVACY AND SURVEILLANCE IN PUBLIC INFORMATION ACCESS ENVIRONMENTS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

his qualitative method inspects users' insights and skills regarding confidentiality and surveillance in public information access environment, such by means of libraries, internet cafés, and public Wi-Fi zones—frameworks usually observed as open, representative spaces for the permitted conversation of ideas and information. The rising integration of biometric documentation systems, surfing antiquity followers, facial acknowledgment cameras, and online data gathering approaches has shaped a distinguished struggle between the compensations of suitability and the protection of personal confidentiality. Using inclusive, semi-structured interviews and thematic examination, the study exposes varied stages of user consciousness, fluctuating from negligible acknowledgement of important monitoring methods to a skilled understanding of multifaceted surveillance methods. Members conveyed unsure feelings, commonly complementary advanced protection, working effectiveness, and instant connectivity beside the risks of summarizing, data misappropriation, and the progressive failure of sureness in public access zones. Many defendants experiential a preventive effect on their information-seeking performance when aware of surveillance. The results highpoint that while surveillance may improve operative competence, it strength corrode the essential intellect of liberty within public information environments. The study advocates for translucent strategy outlines, context-specific confidentiality defenses, and extensive digital literateness creativities to train residents with the essential expertise to navigate these surveilled settings sensibly and assuredly.

KEYWORDS: Privacy, Surveillance, Public Information Access, Qualitative Research, Digital Rights, User Perceptions