49 Factors Affecting Data-Privacy Protection and Promotion of Safe Digital Usage Rituparna Chakraborty 1 , G S Prakasha 1 and C K Sripavithra 1, 2 1 Christ University, Central Campus, Bangalore, 560029, India 2 Maharani’s Science College for Women, Mysore, 570005, India Abstract India is facing the problem of the digital divide. Being developing countries and with low literacy rates, digital knowledge among the public is weak. Those who know a bit about digital operations on smartphones and computers are not having complete knowledge of data security and its peculiarities. Therefore, this study aimed to find determinants of data-privacy anxiety among Indians and to understand their stress and anxiety during the use of digital applications in their daily routines, especially amid the COVID-19 scenario. The current study adopted an inductive qualitative exploratory approach to delve into the above issues. This study employed a reflexive thematic analysis method to analyse interview data of 10 participants across young- adult to middle-adult age groups of male and female gender. Participants belonged to middle socio-economic status having urban background. The study found 6 themes and 26 sub- ordinate themes as determinants of data-privacy anxiety. Emerging themes from the data indicated at the systemic determinants of data-security anxiety, the paradox of learned helplessness and convenience preference among participants. This paper employed the Foucauldian lens of bio-power to discuss the circumscribing function of ill-structured knowledge dissemination approaches. This paper argues in favor of a critical pedagogy approach in educating people about digital security, dealing with data-privacy anxiety, and promoting safe digital usage among all generations of Indians. It also suggests measures of modifications in policies and documentation processes of major online platforms and apps to curb uncertainty and sense of insecurity among users. Keywords 1 Anxiety, Data-security, Data breach, Online Apps 1. Introduction India is a developing country with a 77.7 % literacy rate. 40% of the population live below the poverty line. Digital literacy is almost non-existent in India. However, with the advancement in technology across the globe people are forced to use digital platforms for their various purposes in daily life. According to a 2016-17 survey, India is the second country in the world, after China, in the number of internet users. India has 391 million people using the internet daily [1]. India has several digital platforms for the public under the flagship programme called Digital India. Social awareness is an important factor for internet transactions [2]. Recently smartphones became easily available to common people all over India and private companies are providing internet services at cheaper prices. Therefore, the public is using digital platforms without much knowledge of their usage and the conditions laid out by app developers. Smartphone users have significant concerns over data breach [3]. Studies indicate that activity patterns like not locking screens of smartphones are indicative of a lack of awareness about AISMA-2021: International Workshop on Advanced in Information Security Management and Applications, October 1, 2021, Stavropol, Krasnoyarsk, Russia EMAIL: rituparna.chakraborty@christuniversity.in (Rituparna Chakraborty), prakasha.gs@christuniversity.in (G S Prakasha), sripavithra.ck@res.christuniversity.in (C K Sripavithra). ORCID: 0000-0001-6023-3728 (Rituparna Chakraborty), 0000-0002-1287-7606 (G S Prakasha), 0000-0003-4325-4564 (C K Sripavithra). © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)