July 07, 2023
Trust issues blight Māori internet use
A new report out today looks at how the internet can be more accessible and equitable for Maōri.
Kaye-Maree Dunn from Making Everything Achievable, who worked on the report alongside InternetNZ and its Māori engagement Te Kōmiti Whakauru, says they talked to a wide range of Maori including rangatahi in Tamaki Makaurau, gang whanau, and rangatahi and pakeke in Te Tairawhiti.
Critical issues included access and affordability, trust, security and ownership of data.
Identity theft, hijacking of Facebook profiles and losing money in scams were an all too common experience.
“So it’s convenience – ‘I don’t really care what Facebook or other companies do with my data’. It’s not until something bad happens and people go ‘oh my goodness, this is not OK,’ especially when people lose money, and there is a lot of whakama around it as well so if they do get hacked or something happens they don’t know who to talk to and they don’t want to look stupid in front of their whanau so they say nothing,” Ms Dunn says.
The research highlighted the need for InternetNZ and its security arm NetSafe to be more accessible to Maori and provide some basic education how to navigate the internet safely.