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Safenet-in - Europeans feel left alone with data protection |
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- Only 15 percent feel well informed about how their personal data is used
- Low level of trust in Social Networking websites
European citizens desire more information about what organizations do with their personal data. Only 15 percent of Europeans believe they are well informed about how their personal data is used by companies or public authorities. These are the findings from a 2010 street survey[1] in seven European countries, commissioned by data security and software rights management provider SafeNet for the 4th European Data Protection Day[2].
More than half of the respondents said there was lack of information about usage of their personal data. On the other hand, less than 10 percent always check how their personal data will be protected. But more than two thirds of Europeans seldom or never read through a privacy policy before giving away sensitive information. Here in the UK, only 6 percent of respondents check before giving away their data. Germany, however is a positive exception with 26 percent of respondents checking before they give away their data, whereas in the Netherlands, 59 percent never read a privacy statement. This echoes the fact that 34 percent of the Dutch respondents feel well informed on how their personal data is used.
When asked how much they would trust six different types of organizations in protecting people’s personal data, Europeans showed an exceptional level of unity in poorly scoring Social Networking websites. On a scale of 1 (trust completely) to 5 (do not trust at all), Social Networking sites received an average of 4.09, followed by Telecommunications providers (3.50) and eCommerce companies (3.26). Interestingly, doctors/hospitals received the highest trust level (1.94), followed by banks (2.02) and public authorities (2.30). While country variations existed for the other types of organizations, Social Networks were always the least trusted .
Even though banks are among the most trusted organizations in all countries, many respondents (36 percent) still see an immediate need for improvements by their bank in securing personal data and account details. In the UK, 33 percent called for action, in Sweden and Italy one out of two respondents requested better data protection from their bank. This desire for better data protection does not seem to be the result of a lack of information. Three out of four respondents were able to identify the security measures taken by their banks to protect their data. 70 percent of the Germans were well informed about these security measures provided by their banks and could name some of the mechanisms when asked. The British were fairly aware of their bank’s security measures with 40 percent able to cite these whereas in France only 14 percent were able to give examples.
“It is evident from this street survey that there is a lot of uncertainty regarding data privacy among citizens. People do not want to read through complicated privacy statements but nevertheless have a strong desire to have their personal data well protected,” said Rob Ellis, VP Northern EMEA at SafeNet. “It is no surprise that we see a very low level of trust for the types of organizations that had security breaches in the past, losing large quantities of client data. These organizations should assign high priority to the task of securing data privacy because people will only regain confidence if the series of negative news about data leaks can be stopped. At SafeNet, we have a long track record of protecting sensitive data and advice our enterprise and government customers to the highest protection level for their customer’s data.”
When asked what they would do if a company had lost their data, more than half of the respondents would immediately stop doing business with such companies (70 percent in the UK). Thirty percent would either call the police or a consumer rights organization or both, and 14 percent were willing to go to court. [www.safenet-inc.com]
[1] The street survey of 367 people was conducted in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands in January 2010.
[2] The European Data Protection Day is an initiative by the Council of Europe. “The aim of the Data Protection Day is to give European citizens the chance to understand what personal data is collected and processed about them and why, and what their rights are with respect to this processing.” (Quoted from the Website http://www.coe.int/t/e/legal_affairs/legal_co-operation/data_protection/Default_DP_Day_en.asp)
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