The social impact of Snowden’s revelations on Mexican youngsters
| Published date | 14 August 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-01-2017-0003 |
| Pages | 283-296 |
| Date | 14 August 2017 |
| Author | Andrew A. Adams,Juan Carlos Yáñez-Luna,Pedro I. González Ramírez,Mario Arias-Oliva,Kiyoshi Murata |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology |
The social impact of Snowden’s
revelations on Mexican
youngsters
Andrew A. Adams
Centre for Business Information Ethics, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan
Juan Carlos Yáñez-Luna and Pedro I. González Ramírez
Faculty of Economics, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí,
San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Mario Arias-Oliva
Department of Business and Management, Universitat Rovira i Virgili,
Tarragona, Spain, and
Kiyoshi Murata
School of Commerce, Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract
Purpose –As part of an international studyof knowledge of and attitudes to Snowden’s revelations about
the activities of the NationalSecurity Agency/Government CommunicationsHeadquarters, this paper aims to
deal with Mexico, taking its socio-cultural and political environment surrounding privacy and state
surveillanceinto account.
Design/methodology/approach –A questionnaire was answeredby 160 Mexican University students.
The quantitative responsesto the survey were statistically analysed as well as qualitativeconsiderations of
free text answers.
Findings –Snowden’s revelationshave had a limited influence over Mexican youngsters’attitudestoward
privacy and state surveillance, althoughthere is a great awareness by Mexican young people of individual
rights issues.
Practical implications –The study resultsimply a need to build a collective awarenessof the importance
of the right to privacyand its responsibilities, the available technologicaloptions for individuals to exert their
own privacy and security and the democratic means to agree and enforce appropriate legal restrictions on
state surveillance.
Social implications –The results ofthis study based indicate an urgentnecessity for providing Mexican
youngsterswith opportunitiesto learn more about privacy, liberty,individual autonomy and nationalsecurity.
Originality/value –This study is the first attempt to investigate the social impact of Snowden’s
revelations on Mexican students’attitudes toward privacy and state surveillance as part of cross-cultural
analysesbetween eight countries.
Keywords Mexico, Surveillance, Privacy, Edward Snowden
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
In June 2013, The Guardian in the UK and The Washington Post in the USA began
publishing internal electronic documents from the US’signals intelligence (SIGINT)
organisation the National Security Agency (NSA), provided to them by Edward Snowden
Social impact
of Snowden’s
revelations
283
Received 13 January 2017
Revised 6 April 2017
Accepted 17 April 2017
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.15 No. 3, 2017
pp. 283-296
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-01-2017-0003
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