Report: 40% of users expect privacy to become more important post-pandemic

Users are unwilling to compromise on privacy in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and want greater transparency from governments and private companies regarding the use of their data. The findings come from Cisco’s report.

Consumer Privacy Survey by ForkLog on Scribd

More than 2,600 respondents from Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States participated in the study.

Many respondents are concerned that the data collected about them could be used for purposes unrelated to pandemic prevention, and be shared with third parties. Twenty-four percent also fear that the data will not be deleted or anonymised subsequently.

Almost half of respondents are not confident that they can protect their data. The main reason, in their view, is that “it’s too difficult to figure out how companies actually handle the data they collect”.

Around a third of respondents, during the pandemic, stopped doing business with some organisations due to concerns about data retention. They refused to cooperate if they were not confident in how organisations use information about them.

According to the survey, users want the government to take the lead in protecting their data.

40% of respondents think the pandemic will raise the importance of privacy, 32% believe nothing will change, and 28% think the issue will become less important.

As Freedom House notes, governments in many countries have stepped up surveillance of citizens and restricted the right to a free Internet amid the coronavirus pandemic.

How the pandemic is killing freedom on the Internet: the Freedom House report

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