Peter A Clarke

The Guardian has published an Essential Poll finding that 51% of respondents support restrictions on amount of personal information private companies can collect.  That tallies with a Pew Research Center finding in November 2019 that Americans were concerned about data collection. The Australian Information Commissioner also published a survey of Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy in 2020. EPIC also described a similar outcome from a poll by Morning Consult in 2021.

These findings are all consistent and hardly secret.  Similar polls have had similar findings for more than a decade.  It is governmental inertia that prevents anything from being done about the problem.

The Guardian article provides:

Australians are very concerned about the risks of scammers gaining access to their personal information, and a majority of Guardian Essential poll respondents would support more restrictions on the amount of information companies can collect.

The latest survey of 1,050 voters was taken after Optus confirmed a massive data breach in which the personal information of more than 10 million customers had been exposed – with at least 2.1 million having key identity documents stolen, such as their passport, Medicare or drivers’ licence numbers.

The Albanese government has flagged that it will look at overhauling privacy laws after it emerged that Optus – which is a subsidiary of global telecommunications firm Singtel – had kept private information for years, even after customers had cancelled their contracts.

The new Guardian Essential poll indicates that only a small number of respondents, 21% of the sample, had been directly affected by the Optus breach, although 16% of poll participants were unsure whether or not they had been affected.

But the new data suggests Australians are worried about their privacy online. The poll finds 51% of people would support stronger curbs on the amount of information private companies can collect about consumers, while 47% are worried about governments collecting their personal information.

A number of respondents (41% in both cases) would also support tougher restrictions on the use of facial-recognition technology to predict behaviour and limit the decisions that can be made about consumers by artificial intelligence.

Participants were asked to express views about online privacy regardless of whether or not they had been personally affected by the Optus breach.

Significant majorities of respondents were concerned that scammers could steal their identity to set up a bank account (85% of poll participants) or steal their identity to access their social media accounts (76%). People are also concerned about scammers sending fraudulent emails and text messages (78%).

The cybersecurity minister, Clare O’Neil, has blasted Optus for failing to safeguard the interests of its customers.

“What is of concern for us is how what is quite a basic hack was undertaken on Optus,” O’Neil told the ABC. “We should not have a telecommunications provider in this country which has effectively left the window open for data of this nature to be stolen.”

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has also fired a broadside at the company, characterising the incident as unacceptable.

The Pew Report provides:

A majority of Americans believe their online and offline activities are being tracked and monitored by companies and the government with some regularity. It is such a common condition of modern life that roughly six-in-ten U.S. adults say they do not think it is possible to go through daily life without having data collected about them by companies or the government.

Data-driven products and services are often marketed with the potential to save users time and money or even lead to better health and well-being. Still, large shares of U.S. adults are not convinced they benefit from this system of widespread data gathering. Some 81% of the public say that the potential risks they face because of data collection by companies outweigh the benefits, and 66% say the same about government data collection. At the same time, a majority of Americans report being concerned about the way their data is being used by companies (79%) or the government (64%). Most also feel they have little or no control over how these entities use their personal information, according to a new survey of U.S. adults by Pew Research Center that explores how Americans feel about the state of privacy in the nation.

Americans’ concerns about digital privacy extend to those who collect, store and use their personal information. Additionally, majorities of the public are not confident that corporations are good stewards of the data they collect. For example, 79% of Americans say they are not too or not at all confident that companies will admit mistakes and take responsibility if they misuse or compromise personal information, and 69% report having this same lack of confidence that firms will use their personal information in ways they will be comfortable with.

There is also a collective sentiment that data security is more elusive today than in the past. When asked whether they think their personal data is less secure, more secure or about the same as it was five years ago, 70% of adults say their personal data is less secure. Only 6% report that they believe their data is more secure today than it was in the past.

But even as the public expresses worry about various aspects of their digital privacy, many Americans acknowledge that they are not always diligent about paying attention to the privacy policies and terms of service they regularly encounter. Fully 97% of Americans say they are ever asked to approve privacy policies, yet only about one-in-five adults overall say they always (9%) or often (13%) read a company’s privacy policy before agreeing to it. Some 38% of all adults maintain they sometimes read such policies, but 36% say they never read a company’s privacy policy before agreeing to it.

Moreover, the practice of reading privacy policies doesn’t necessarily guarantee thoroughness. Among adults who say they ever read privacy policies before agreeing to their terms and conditions, only a minority – 22% – say they read them all the way through before agreeing to their terms and conditions.

There is also a general lack of understanding about data privacy laws among the general public: 63% of Americans say they understand very little or nothing at all about the laws and regulations that are currently in place to protect their data privacy.

These findings point to an overall wariness about the state of privacy these days, but there are some circumstances where the public sees value in this type of data-driven environment. For example, pluralities of adults say it is acceptable for poorly performing schools to share data about their students with a nonprofit group seeking to help improve educational outcomes or for the government to collect data about all Americans to assess who might be a potential terrorist.

These findings come from a survey of 4,272 U.S. adults conducted on Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel between June 3-17, 2019.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

Prevalence of tracking: 72% of Americans report feeling that all, almost all or most of what they do online or while using their cellphone is being tracked by advertisers, technology firms or other companies. Another 19% think some of what they do is being tracked. Close to half (47%) of adults believe at least most of their online activities are being tracked by the government.

When it comes to their offline behavior such as where they are or whom they talk with, 69% believe companies are tracking at least some of that activity. And 56% of Americans think the government is tracking at least some of their activities, like who they are talking to or their whereabouts.

Not feeling in control of personal data: Roughly eight-in-ten or more U.S. adults say they have very little or no control over the data that government (84%) or companies (81%) collect about them.

When it comes to different kinds of information, the picture varies by the specific type. While relatively few Americans feel as if they have a lot of control over who has access to everything from their physical location to their social media posts, there are experiences in which some Americans especially feel a lack of control. Roughly half of Americans (48%) say they feel as if they have no control over who can access the search terms they use, and 41% say the same about the websites they visit. By comparison, a smaller share of the public feels as if they do not have control over who can access their physical location.

Risks vs. rewards of data collection and profiling: 81% of Americans think the potential risks of data collection by companies about them outweigh the benefits, and 66% say the same about government data collection about them. Relatedly, 72% of adults say they personally benefit very little or none from company data collection about them, and 76% say this about the benefits they might get from government data collection.

One aim of the data collection done by companies is for the purpose of profiling customers and potentially targeting the sale of goods and services to them based on their traits and habits. This survey finds that 77% of Americans say they have heard or read at least a bit about how companies and other organizations use personal data to offer targeted advertisements or special deals, or to assess how risky people might be as customers. About 64% of all adults say they have seen ads or solicitations based on their personal data. And 61% of those who have seen ads based on their personal data say the ads accurately reflect their interests and characteristics at least somewhat well. (That amounts to 39% of all adults.)

Data collection and sharing for specific purposes: Despite their broad concerns about data collection and use by companies and the government, pluralities of U.S. adults say it is acceptable for data to be used in some ways. For instance, by a 49%-27% margin, more Americans find it acceptable than unacceptable for poorly performing schools to share data about their students with a nonprofit group seeking to help improve educational outcomes. Similarly, 49% say it is acceptable for government to collect data about all Americans to assess who might be a potential terrorist threat. That compares with 31% who feel it is unacceptable to collect data from all Americans for that purpose.

On the other hand, more find it unacceptable than acceptable for social media companies to monitor users’ posts for signs of depression so they can identify people who are at risk of self-harm and connect them to counseling services (45% vs. 27%). The same pattern arises when it comes to companies that make smart speakers sharing audio recordings of customers with law enforcement to help with criminal investigations: 49% say this it is unacceptable, while 25% find it acceptable.

The public is more evenly divided when it comes to the acceptability of fitness tracking app makers sharing user data with medical researchers to better understand the link between exercise and heart disease.

Concern about how data is used: 79% of adults assert they are very or somewhat concerned about how companies are using the data they collect about them, while 64% say they have the same level of concern about government data collection.

Separately, Americans have mixed views about which groups concern them in getting access to their data: About four-in-ten are concerned a lot about the personal information social media sites (40%) or advertisers might know about them (39%). But only 9% of Americans worry a lot about the information family and friends might know and 19% have similar concerns about what their employers might know.

Still, the majority of Americans are not confident about the way companies will behave when it comes to using and protecting their personal data. Roughly seven-in-ten or more say they are not too or not at all confident that companies will admit mistakes and take responsibility when they misuse or compromise data (79%), will be held accountable by government if they misuse data (75%), or will use customers’ data in ways that people would feel comfortable with (69%).

When it comes to data use for specific purposes, Americans have varying views depending on the purpose for the data use. For example, 57% of adults say they are very or somewhat comfortable with companies using their personal data to help companies improve their fraud prevention systems. But they are evenly split when the issue is their comfort with companies using their personal data in developing new products. About a third (36%) of adults say they are at least somewhat comfortable with companies sharing their personal data with outside groups doing research that might help them improve society, but a larger share (64%) say they would be uncomfortable with this practice.

Lack of understanding: 78% of U.S. adults say they understand very little or nothing about what the government does with the data it collects, and 59% say the same about the data companies collect. Only 6% of adults say they understand a great deal what companies do with the data collected, and a similar share (4%) say they know a great deal about what the government does with the data.

Some Americans also admit they struggle to understand the privacy laws that govern use of their data. Roughly six-in-ten Americans (63%) say they have very little or no understanding of the laws and regulations that are currently in place to protect their privacy. Only 3% of adults say they understand these laws a great deal, and 33% say they have some understanding.

How Americans handle privacy policies: Core parts of the current system of data collection and privacy protection are built on the idea that consumers are given notice about how firms collect and use data and ask for their consent to having their data used that way. Fully 97% say they are ever asked to approve privacy policies, yet only one-in-five adults overall say they always (9%) or often (13%) read these policies. Some 38% of U.S. adults maintain they sometimes read such policies, and 36% say they never read a company’s privacy policy before agreeing to it. In all, about four-in-ten adults say they understand privacy policies great deal (8%) or some (33%).

In addition to the concerns cited above about how companies handle personal data, a majority of Americans (57%) say they are not too confident (40%) or not at all confident (17%) companies follow what their privacy policies say they will do with users’ personal data.

Several other key findings in the survey:

• • Roughly three-in-ten Americans (28%) say they have suffered at least one of three kinds of major identity theft problems in the previous 12 months at the time of the survey: 21% have had someone put fraudulent charges on their credit or debit card; 8% have had someone take over their social media or email accounts without their permission; and 6% have had someone try to open a credit line or get a loan using their name.
  • A majority of U.S. adults (57%) say they follow privacy news very closely (11%) or somewhat closely (46%).

There are some differences by age on some privacy issues: People in different age groups have varying views on some key privacy and surveillance issues. Americans ages 65 and older are less likely than those ages 18 to 29 to feel they have control over who can access things like their physical location, purchases made both online and offline and their private conversations. At the same time, older Americans are less likely to think they benefit from data collection: Just 17% of those 65 and older believing they benefit from the data government collects about them, and only 19% think the same about data collected by companies.

There are also age differences on the issue of how data gets used once obtained. Americans ages 65 and older are more likely than younger adults to say it is acceptable for law enforcement to use customers’ genetic data to help solve crimes, approve data collection to assess terrorist threats, and have smart speaker makers share users’ audio recordings in investigations. By contrast, young adults ages 18 to 29 are more likely than older adults to find acceptable the idea that social media companies monitor users for signs of depression and to allow fitness tracking user data to be shared with medical researchers.

In addition, two-thirds of adults ages 65 and older say they follow privacy news at least somewhat closely, compared with just 45% of those 18 to 29 who do the same.

There are differences by race and ethnicity on some privacy issues: Black Americans are more likely than white Americans to say they believe the government is tracking all or most of what they do online or on their cellphone (60% vs. 43%). Similar gaps are present in views about offline activities: 47% of black adults think all or most of their offline activities are tracked by the government, compared with just 19% of white adults.

In addition, black and Hispanic adults are more likely than white adults to say they are concerned to some degree about what law enforcement officials, employers and family and friends know about them.

When it comes to identity-theft issues, black adults (20%) are roughly three times as likely as their Hispanic (7%) or white counterparts (6%) to say someone has taken over their social media or email account in the past year. Black Americans are also more likely than white and Hispanic adults to say someone attempted to open a line of credit or applied for a loan using their name in the past 12 months.

At the same time, white adults also report feeling less control across several information types when compared with black and Hispanic adults. For example, 50% of white Americans feel they have control over who can access information about their on- and offline purchases, compared with 69% of black adults and 66% of Hispanic adults.

The Executive Summary and Main Findings of the Information Commissioner’s survey provides:

Executive summary

The Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey (ACAPS) 2020 was conducted between February and March 2020 with a nationally representative sample of 2,866 unique respondents aged 18 years and over. Additional research was conducted in early April 2020 to measure changing attitudes to privacy issues following the COVID-19 outbreak. For the first time since the survey’s inception in 2001, all data was collected online.

The main objectives of the 2020 survey were to:

• • provide insight on Australian attitudes towards privacy
  • understand the change in Australian attitudes and behaviours over time through the construction of longitudinal trend models
  • identify awareness of and concern about emerging privacy issues, related to new technologies and to regulation, and
  • collect data to assist the OAIC as the national privacy regulator across policy, compliance, and communications initiatives.

Main findings

Privacy is an important issue for most Australians. Seventy percent consider the protection of their personal information to be a major concern in their life. The biggest privacy risks identified by Australians in 2020 are:

• • identify theft and fraud (76%)
  • data security and data breaches (61%)
  • digital services, including social media sites (58%)
  • smartphone apps (49%), and
  • surveillance by foreign entities (35%) or Australian entities (26%).

Three in 5 Australians (59%) have experienced problems with how their personal information was handled in the past 12 months. The majority involved unwanted marketing communications or having their personal information collected (with or without consent) when this was not required to deliver the service.

The behaviours Australians are most likely to consider a misuse are when:

• • an organisation uses their personal information in ways that cause harm, loss or distress (84%)
  • information supplied to an organisation for a specific purpose is used for another purpose (84%), and
  • a personal device is listening to conversations and sharing this with other organisations without their knowledge (83%).

Concerns regarding data privacy are driven by a belief that many companies routinely use personal information for purposes that make Australians uncomfortable.

Levels of comfort with the data practices of online businesses including social media sites and other digital platforms are low. They vary according to the nature of the organisation involved, the purpose for collecting or using the data and the type of personal information collected:

• • The Australian Government is generally more trusted than businesses with the protection of personal information. Certain purposes are considered more legitimate than others, such as public safety. Australians are slightly more comfortable with most instances of government use of personal information than they were in 2017.
  • Australians are particularly uncomfortable with businesses tracking their location through their mobile or web browser (62% uncomfortable) and keeping databases of information on what they have said and done online (62% uncomfortable).
  • Australians are increasingly questioning data practices where the purpose for collecting personal information is unclear, with 81% of Australians considering ‘an organisation asking for information that doesn’t seem relevant to the purpose of the transaction’ as a misuse (up 7% since 2017).

Most Australians have a clear understanding of why they should protect their personal information (85% agree) but half say they don’t know how (49% agree). Four in 10 rate their knowledge of privacy as fair to poor, while 23% say their knowledge is excellent or very good. One third (34%) feel they are in control of their privacy, however just as many (34%) do not. This is not through lack of desire, as 87% want more control and choice over the collection and use of their personal information.

In line with this, Australians are most likely to believe they should have:

• • the right to ask a business to delete their personal information (84%)
  • the right to ask a government agency to delete their personal information (64%)
  • the right to seek compensation in the courts for a breach of privacy (78%)
  • to know when their personal information is used in automated decision-making if it could affect them (77%), and
  • the right to object to certain data practices while still being able to access and use the service (77%).
  • Compared to 2017, fewer Australians are taking measures to protect their privacy, in particular:
  • asking public or private sector organisations why they need personal information (down 16%)
  • choosing not to use an app on a mobile device because of concerns over handling personal information (down 13%)
  • shredding documents (down 11%), and
  • adjusting privacy settings on a social networking website (down 10%).