OTTAWA – A new poll released today suggests Canadians are increasingly concerned about posting personal information online, and in many instances have chosen not to use a site or service if they weren’t comfortable with its privacy policy.
What’s more, according to the telephone survey commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, 56% of respondents said they are not confident that they understand how new technologies affect their privacy. Seventy percent Canadians also reported feeling that they have less protection of their personal information in their daily lives than they did 10 years ago.
That declining lack of confidence is reflected in a range of concerns Canadians have about sharing their personal information online. The telephone survey of 1,513 residents across Canada found that more than half of respondents (55%) said they have opted to not install, or have uninstalled, an app because of the amount of personal information they would have to provide. Almost seven in ten respondents said they would not use a site or service if they were uncomfortable with the terms of its privacy policy.
And while we may concerned about posting our information online, we don’t appear to be too keen on learning how to better protect it. The survey found that 66% of us are very concerned about privacy protection, with 25% saying they are extremely concerned, yet 54% said they do not take steps to limit tracking of their internet activities. Half of Canadians said they rarely or never consult online privacy policies.
“Canadian consumers have grown accustomed to, and expect, protections when they use products and services,” said Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart in a statement. “But they need to realize that they have an important role to play and they need to take a more active approach when it comes to protecting their personal information.”
Mobile users may be getting the message, however. The survey found that 56% of mobile users lock their device with a password or adjust their settings to limit the amount of personal information they share with others (53%). This reflects a significant increase in the use of such measures since the OPC's last survey of consumers in 2011.
Other findings from the survey include:
- 71% of Canadians think protecting the personal information of Canadians will be one of the most important issues facing our country in the next 10 years.
- 21% of Canadians think the federal government takes its responsibility to protect personal information seriously while only 13% feel businesses are serious about this responsibility.
- 60% have asked an organization for an explanation of how it will use their information.
- 97% would want to be notified by an organization if their personal information was compromised.
- 73% of Canadians who use the Internet are concerned about companies using their information to send them spam.
- 81% think it is very important that websites actively inform them about what kinds of personal information they are collecting and how they use it.
The survey results are considered to be accurate to within +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.
