Study: 91 Percent Of Americans Say They’ve ‘Lost Control’ Of Personal Info Privacy
Study: 91 Percent Of Americans Say They’ve ‘Lost Control’
Of Personal Info Privacy
November 13, 2014 10:23 AM
By Benjamin Fearnow
WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – An overwhelming majority of
Americans feel a complete lack of control over the privacy of their personal
information, with 91 percent of U.S. adults agreeing that consumers “have lost
control” over how companies and the government collect and use their personal
data.
A new study released by the Pew Research Center focused
on Americans’ perception of privacy in the “Post-Snowden Era” in which “big
data” surveillance has altered traditional U.S. views of civil liberties and
personal privacy. U.S. adults expressed a “striking” lack of confidence in
their level of control over how both corporations and the government collect
and utilize their everyday communications.
Eighty percent of U.S. adults said they “agree” or
“strongly agree” that Americans should be concerned about the government’s
monitoring of phone calls and internet communications, with just 18 percent
disagreeing with the concern. Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) believe the
government should do more to regulate advertisers, with nearly one-third saying
the government should not get more involved.
And 70 percent of social networking site users said they
are concerned about the government accessing some of the information they share
on social networking sites without their knowledge.
Lack of trust is pervasive among Americans, with 81
percent reporting they feel “not very” or “not at all secure” using social
media sites when sharing private information with another trusted individual or
organization. Only 36 percent agreed that “it is a good thing for society if
people believe that someone is keeping an eye on the things that they do
online.”
Most adults feel it is nearly impossible to maintain any
level of anonymity online, with just 24 percent agreeing with the statement:
“It is easy for me to be anonymous when I am online.”
Eighty-eight percent of Americans agreed it would be very
difficult to remove any inaccurate information about them online.
More than two-thirds of Americans (68 percent) said they
feel “insecure” using chat or instant messages to share private information.
And 58 percent said they feel “insecure” sending private info through text
messages on their personal cell phone, with a similar percentage (57 percent)
feeling insecure when sending emails.
Forty-six percent of Americans said they feel “not very”
or “not at all secure” when sharing private information through calls on their
own cell phone.
Americans are skeptical there are even any benefits to
personal data sharing, but many are still willing to make “tradeoffs” when the
sharing of their personal information gains them access to free services.
Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults said they “appreciate that online services are
more efficient” because of the increased access that companies have to their
personal information.
Nearly one-half of Americans (47 percent) they generally
assume that people they meet will search for information about them on the
internet, while 50 percent do not believe they will be searched online.
The Pew Research Center’s Internet Project commissioned a
representative online panel of 607 English-speaking U.S. adults to respond to
four surveys over the course of one year. Twenty-six additional panelists
participated in online focus groups for this study which picked from an
original survey of more than 1,500 English-speaking panelists.
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