Majority of Global Online Users Worried About Privacy, Data Use, Survey Finds
Consumers in 24 countries, including the U.S., are increasingly worried by how their personal information is being managed by companies and governments, said a Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)-commissioned global survey released Monday. Done by research firm Ipsos, the…
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survey of 24,153 users Nov. 20-Dec. 4 found 57 percent of people globally were more concerned about their online privacy than a year ago. Only 30 percent of respondents said they thought their government "is doing enough" to keep personal data secure and safe from companies, the survey said. The poll found 38 percent didn't think their Internet activities were being monitored, while 46 percent thought their activities weren't being censored. "Internet users are expressing a clear lack of trust in the current set of rules and, more importantly, in the actors that oversee the sharing and use of personal data online,” Fen Hampson, director of Canada-based CIGI’s global security and politics program, said in a news release. But 70 percent of respondents said law enforcement agencies should have a right to access people's online communications for "valid national security reasons," including 64 percent of Americans, the survey said. It also said 63 percent of respondents don't want companies to develop technologies preventing law enforcement from accessing content of people's online conversations.