Abstract:

The new communication technologies which provide third parties with transmission of private information have created a new challange. Information obtained through social media or transactions made on the internet and subsequently processed is required both by commercial organizations and governmental agencies. In essence, the use of information collected from users without their knowledge and for ulterior motives is seen as a violation of privacy and subject to intense debate. However, today municipalities collect information about individuals. In addition to the service for the right to information, e-municipalities provide people with many services including tax collection and payments. Thence, they ask people certain information such as their education level and occupation besides their name, surname and contact information. However, they do not include privacy statements on their web sites. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether the information obtained from municipalities’ web pages is protected. In this context, the web sites of 16 largest city municipalities and municipal towns connected to them are examined and it was found that the vast majority of the municipalities in the content analysis do not bother to assume any responsibility regarding the issue of individual privacy.

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