Privacy Fears on the Increase, warns Data Protection Commissioner

dahamsta

http://www.dataprivacy.ie/7nr130103.htm

Public Anxiety linked to ‘Trust Deficit’

Irish people are growing increasingly concerned about the erosion of their personal privacy, according to a survey published today by the Data Protection Commissioner, Mr Joe Meade. Intrusive business practices, fears about internet privacy, and a lack of information about Government initiatives have contributed to what Mr Meade termed a “trust deficit” that could undermine Ireland’s progress towards e-commerce.

Key Findings – Privacy a High Priority, Fears on the Increase

• Irish people value their privacy highly, ranking it higher even than issues such as consumer protection, ethics in public office, and equality in the workplace. Only crime prevention was given a similarly high priority by the public.
• Financial records have a higher privacy value than medical records
• Three out of four Irish adults believe that businesses regularly encroach on our privacy
• Irish people share a similar mistrust of Government agencies – just over half of adults trust Government agencies to deal with personal details in a fair and proper manner, with one in four expressing distrust
• People feel more insecure about the Internet than in the past. Most people (56%) agree that ‘if you use the internet, your privacy is threatened’, compared with 37% in a 1997 survey. The proportion who ‘strongly agree’ with this statement has doubled from 14% to 28%.
• Most people prefer not to receive unsolicited direct marketing. While many people tend to be somewhat indifferent to direct mailings to the home, people are more firmly opposed to receiving unsolicited phone calls at home, and to receiving unsolicited e-mails and SMS messages.
• Comparing these results with a similar 1997 survey, people’s anxieties about intrusions into their privacy have increased. Expressions of unease about business practices and about internet use have all increased significantly over the period.

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http://www.dataprivacy.ie/7nr130103.htm

ecksor

Originally posted by dahamsta
# Irish people value their privacy highly, ranking it higher even than issues such as consumer protection, ethics in public office, and equality in the workplace. Only crime prevention was given a similarly high priority by the public.

People might value their privacy, but I don't think that people think about it or stand up for it as much as they should. It seems to me that people are all too willing to fill in their name/address/whatever whenever anyone in retail or services hands them a form to fill in. I suppose this is an education issue.

dahamsta

You're right, it's a kind of notional value, and it definitely does come down to a lack of understanding. I mean, a lot of people I know don't understand that if they don't check the opt-out on forms - any forms - their data /will/ be sold; they /will/ start getting junk mail; and it won't be as easy as checking a box to get off the lists.

With that level of ignorance for something as simple as a checkbox, it's understandable why people are ignorant about electronic privacy. But they /do/ need to be educated, and quickly, because with things like RFID, and CCTV, and security services trying to track us in every way possible, they need to be taught how these things can - and will - be abused.

adam

ecksor

Assuming there is a checkbox.

The point is that why are people so quick to give up this information at all? It usually comes down to getting a few percent or a few squid off of something, in which case you can argue that people do value their privacy, but not very highly.

Even apart from that, refusing to give information doesn't seem to have been accounted for in a lot of people's thinking. Places where I've refused to divulge information include a gym where they were making shapes about not letting me use the facility if I didn't provide a phone number (I was paying over the odds to use the place as it was) which leads me to think that they have no clue as what my rights actually are in this regard (and I know for a fact that they want that information so they can call me at an inconvenient time to try and sell me better gym membership), and a hotel where I drew the receptionists attention to the small print at the bottom about letting the person on the desk know if I didn't want the information shared. He had never noticed this bit of text before and wasn't really sure how to handle the situation, so I can only assume that no one else had ever done this.

Apart from any good or bad intentions about what people will do with my information, if it touches a database then I don't believe that most companies have the skills to properly secure it or even realise that it needs some thought/care in a lot of cases.

If activism is to have any effect, then the majority of people must be able to think critically about what they are doing every time they divulge information and what the possible consequences are. Then they can start to appreciate the implications of new legislation.

Typedef

For me, I don't have a fixed line, but, simply a mobile phone. This fact gives me no end of worry, blank looks from red-tape addicts and bearaucrats in general when I try to do 'anything' vis-a-vis applications or interface with red-tape clad organisations.

Ostensibly though, I simply lie when asked to divulge information I'd really rather not.

There are any number of applications I have filled in with the address of :

10 Downing Street and so on.

Irish people I think, 'trust' the State not to abuse their personal information, due to the community mindset that prevails throughout Ireland, the notion that authority (x) is for all intents and purposes 'infallable'.

I don't subscribe to the notion of infallability and I don't trust the State or random organisations asking intrusive questions 'not to' abuse the information I may give out, the amount of spam I get from random sources in my mailbox is a testament to that.

Bod