A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
Third-Party Data Leaks and Privacy Compliance on Finnish Government Websites
Authors: Rajapaksha, Sammani; Heino, Timi; Rauti, Sampsa; Puhtila, Panu; Leppänen, Ville
Editors: Rocha, Alvaro; Adeli, Hojjat; Poniszewska-Maranda, Aneta; Moreira, Fernando; Bianchi, Isaias
Conference name: World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
Publication year: 2025
Journal: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems
Book title : Emerging Trends in Information Systems and Technologies : WorldCIST 2025. Volume 1
Volume: 1514
First page : 259
Last page: 268
ISBN: 978-3-031-97118-1
eISBN: 978-3-031-97119-8
ISSN: 2367-3370
eISSN: 2367-3389
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97119-8_19
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: No Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : No Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97119-8_19
As web-based services become more popular and common in handling everyday tasks online, public sector websites have also become a very important part of essential digital services. On crucial websites like government websites, where sensitive personal data may be processed, privacy issues become increasingly important. In this study, we examine third party services used in 63 Finnish government websites, and what personal data is potentially leaking to these third parties. We also study adequacy of consent mechanisms on these websites and assess how well they inform the users on these data transfers. Our findings show that while the number of third parties and data leaks is relatively low, the websites still have privacy issues like insufficient consent mechanisms, dark patterns, and informing users inadequately about data processing activities.
Funding information in the publication:
This research has been funded by Academy of Finland project 327397, IDA – Intimacy in Data-Driven Culture.
