Category: Reading and Research

71% of U.S. consumers said they had downloaded software to protect their data privacy or help to control their web experience, according to a survey by JanRain, a customer profile and identity management software provider acquired by Akamai in January 2019.

42% said they were open to forgiving a brand’s data breach as long as the company immediately informs them about the attack and how it is responding.

7% refuse to forgive brands for allowing bad actors access to their personal data.

14% have lost all faith in an organization’s ability to protect their data.

55% would let companies they trust use some of their personal data for specific purposes that benefit them in clear ways.

36% wouldn’t let any company use their personal data.

66% like the idea of being able to alert companies when they’re interested in something as long as they can “switch it off” when they’re no longer interested.

16% aren’t interested in this even if it came with preferences control.

Advertising

8% said ads “often” seemed to understand their needs, presenting brands with an important area for improvement.

47% said ads do seem to understand their needs at least “sometimes” while 26% said ads “hardly ever” understand them, 9% said online ads “never” do.

When asked whether they’d walk away from a business that requires personal information up front (like a phone number or email address) in order to conduct business, 15% of those surveyed said “yes” while 24% said “probably.”

54% said it depends on whether the business is trusted or the only option.

Janrain in the third quarter of 2018 surveyed more than 1,000 U.S. consumers on attitudes toward data privacy and security.

Data Protection

66% of those surveyed renewed their call for GDPR-like rules in the United States that force brands to provide consumers with greater privacy, security and control of their personal data. Janrain asked a similar question in May of 2018 to which 69% responded favorably to more regulation in the States.

Janrain’s findings show consumers not only want more regulation, they believe it will actually help in the wake of high-profile breaches and controversies affecting well-known organizations such as Yahoo!, Equifax and Facebook.

9% believe such laws would be ineffective while 6% believe more regulation would be too hard on businesses and the economy.

9% believe achieving data security requires the shared support of consumers, business and government.

44% report being most concerned about protecting their financial data over all other forms of personal data, a quarter of consumers realize the importance of protecting their passwords, pointing to sound password management as their chief concern.

61% say they are very careful about their computer/mobile security.

12% have given up worrying about their computer/mobile security, because they believe hackers can break into company networks anyway.

U.S. technology companies spent record sums on lobbying last year amid greater political scrutiny on everything from privacy and antitrust to national security.

Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft boosted their combined spending by 10 percent to $64 million in 2018 from a year earlier.

U.S. Senate LDA reports

OpenSecrets.org

 

U.S. Population	2017	% by age group	Approximate generation
Total	325,719,178
Under 5 years	19,938,860	6.1%
5 to 9 years	20,304,238	6.2%	Generation Z  ⇓
10 to 14 years	20,778,454	6.4%
15 to 19 years	21,131,660	6.5%
20 to 24 years	22,118,635	6.8%	Millennials ⇓
25 to 29 years	23,370,460	7.2%
30 to 34 years	21,972,212	6.7%
35 to 39 years	21,231,997	6.5%
40 to 44 years	19,643,373	6.0%	Generation X ⇓
45 to 49 years	20,973,858	6.4%
50 to 54 years	21,401,094	6.6%
55 to 59 years	22,007,956	6.8%	Baby Boomers ⇓
60 to 64 years	19,987,702	6.1%
65 to 69 years	16,836,381	5.2%
70 to 74 years	12,847,065	3.9%
75 to 79 years	8,741,261	2.7%	Silent Generation ⇓
80 to 84 years	5,965,290	1.8%
85 years and over	6,468,682	2.0%
Source: Census Bureau