Privacy Rights/Culture and Politics/Polling
Does public polling reveal insights about the right as experienced in different countries?
Worldwide
A 2018 Deloitte survey has revealed that the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is having a positive international impact on the perception of data collection and storage even just six months after its implementation (Deloitte, 2018, 4). The GDPR has had a worldwide effect on privacy laws as it requires all companies which collect data on EU citizens to comply with the law, regardless of the location of their headquarters (Wolford, n.d.). At the most basic level, respondents felt companies have begun to care more about data protection (Deloitte, 2018, 6). Additionally, over 3 out of 4 respondents were aware of their rights under this law and some had already used this knowledge to alter what data companies were collecting about them (Deloitte, 2018, 13, 14, 19). On the other hand, 19% of those polled felt that organizations did not care about privacy (Deloitte, 2018, 6) and only 51% felt the law had put them in control of the personal data that companies have access to (Deloitte, 2018, 18).
European Union
In a 2019 European Union (including North Macedonia) study conducted a year after the implementation of the GDPR, the European Commission concurred with Deloitte in that the GDPR had made people more aware of their rights (Vandystadt & Voin, 2019) . However, only 20% of these respondents knew which authority was responsible for protecting privacy rights (Vandystadt & Voin, 2019; Awareness of the general data protection regulation, 2019) .
United States
In 2002, a Harris Poll found that 63% of respondents found the privacy legislation in place to be inadequate (EPIC, 2021) . In 2019, 75% of those surveyed felt the government should regulate companies and their use of personal data (Auxier, 2020) . In 2020, 79% of the population wanted national privacy legislation enacted (Auxier, 2020) . It is clear that over time, Americans have become more concerned about the use of their personal data, especially in the private sector (Auxier et al., 2019; Auxier, 2020) . Despite this fact, the United States has still not enacted sweeping privacy legislation at a national level. At the state level, California was the first state to enact privacy legislation in 2018, and at least nineteen other states have followed suit with the hope that it will signal the federal government to propose some sort of national privacy legislation for ease of compliance (Sabin, 2021) . However, Americans seem to be fine with either approach, with polls showing around 70% find their state government to be responsible for this issue and the same percent find the federal government to be responsible (Sabin, 2021) .
New Zealand
In 2012, the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner published a privacy study completed by UMR Research. This study found that 90% of people wanted the government to protect their data and be told by companies how their data was being used (Privacy Commissioner, 2012, 9). Interestingly, only 66% were concerned about the presence of their personal data online (Privacy Commissioner, 2012, 12). However, 88% of respondents wanted businesses to be punished if they were using data incorrectly, and 97% wanted the Privacy Commissioner to be able to reprimand companies if they were breaching the then enforceable 1993 Privacy Act (Privacy Commissioner, 2012, 23, 10). Since this study was published, the 1993 Privacy Act has been updated. Now, if an investigation reveals a breach of duty or misconduct, Article 96 of the Privacy Act 2020 requires the Commissioner to refer the matter to authorities, reflecting some of the public’s wants revealed in the 2012 poll.
British Columbia
In 2020, Canadian non-profit, Freedom of Information and Privacy Association or FIPA, worked with Ipsos and polled British Columbians surrounding their attitudes regarding privacy law. About half of them were unsure if the current laws were protective enough or admitted they thought current privacy laws were lacking (FIPA, 2020) . When asked about the transparency of Canadian companies, 50% felt companies were not open about their data practices and 75% felt that Canadian companies may send their data to non-Canadian companies (FIPA, 2020) . However, one-third of respondents from the same study knew British Columbian privacy law and its protections and three-quarters would like a public education initiative to teach these protections (FIPA, 2020) .
References:
Auxier, B. (2020, May 4). How Americans see digital privacy issues amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/05/04/how-americans-see-digital-privacy-issues-amid-the-covid-19-outbreak/
Auxier, B., Rainie, L., Anderson, M., Perrin, A., Kumar, M., & Turner, E. (2019, Nov. 15). Americans and privacy: Concerned, confused, and feeling lack of control over their personal information. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/ Awareness of the general data protection regulation – one year on. (2019). European Commission. https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/surveys/detail/2222
Deloitte. (2018). A new era for privacy: GDPR six months on. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/risk/deloitte-uk-risk-gdpr-six-months-on.pdf
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). (2021). Public opinion on privacy. https://epic.org/privacy/survey/
FIPA. (2020, June 4). British Columbians want action on privacy protection: Polling results. https://fipa.bc.ca/2020-privacy-poll/
Privacy Act 2020, 2020 No. 31, (2021). https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0031/latest/LMS23223.html
Privacy Commissioner. (2012, Apr.). UMR omnibus results. https://www.privacy.org.nz/assets/Files/Surveys/Privacy-Commission-UMR-Omni-Results-Apr-2012.pdf
Sabin, S. (2021, Apr. 27). States are moving on privacy bills. Morning Consult. https://morningconsult.com/2021/04/27/state-privacy-congress-priority-poll/
Vandystadt, N., & Voin, M. (2019, July 24). GDPR shows results, but work needs to continue. European Commission. https://europa.eu/eurobarometer/api/deliverable/download/file?deliverableId=69715
Wolford, B. (n.d.). What is GDPR, the EU’s new data protection law? GDPR EU. Retrieved Sept. 9, 2021, from https://gdpr.eu/what-is-gdpr/