PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Oct. 25, 2020 - Pew Research found that a majority of Students believe their online activities are being tracked and monitored by companies with some regularity. It is such a common condition of modern life that roughly six-in-ten students say they do not think it is possible to go through daily life without having data collected about them by companies.
These 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, many 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 report having this same lack of confidence that firms will use their personal information responsibly.
Lynn Bentley, President of Knobull, Inc. stated, "The overall wariness about the state of privacy these days are based on some circumstances where the public sees value in this type of data-driven environment. For example, pluralities of students 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. Yet DuckDuckGo research discovered that over 24% indicate they are willing to switch to an online service that doesn't collect their data to boost sales or distribute it in any way!"
There are clear indications they think the potential risks of data collection by companies about them outweigh the benefits, and 72% of adults say they personally benefit very little or none from company data collection about them. One aim of the data collection done by companies is for the purpose of profiling customers to sell goods and services to them based on their traits and habits. A majority assert they are very or somewhat concerned about how companies are using the data they collect about them.
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. 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.
Bentley concluded, "We see that our Company has a clear mandate to raise awareness of the student population and join the fight against irresponsible personal data collection. This is even more compelling when the use of these tactics is geared toward the enhancement of corporate sales and profits!"
