What 1,500 People Revealed About Digital Privacy Attitudes and Behavior

The early internet was a place where using real names in chat rooms felt unthinkable. Personal details were shared only in private, and only when absolutely necessary. That world has changed dramatically. We now freely use real names on social media and sign up for services we know are monetizing our data for advertising.

Digital privacy literacy -- understanding what digital privacy means and how to protect yourself online -- is not binary. Complete privacy with an online presence is impossible. Every action, every search, every share opens a potential privacy vulnerability. So we make choices about what is acceptable to share and what is not, what services to use and which to avoid.

A survey of 1,515 people conducted in 2019 explored how individuals view privacy, how it affects their online behavior, and what could be done to better protect private information. The qualitative analysis was conducted by Current Forward, a research and qualitative analysis firm.

Key Findings

Everyone surveyed understood and believed their data is being used, shared, and monetized without permission. Yet a significant gap exists between that awareness and actual behavior change. Three factors drive this disconnect:

1. Protecting yourself online is difficult and inconvenient. It requires multiple steps and often paid services. Most consumers have not internalized that "free" software monetizes their data.
2. Privacy breaches do not cause enough immediate pain to change behavior. Even knowing that passwords were stored in plaintext, people continue using compromised services until something bad actually happens to them personally.
3. Transparency about breach consequences is almost nonexistent. The full extent of privacy violations remains hidden behind legal language and PR spin.

Social media and advertising platforms were identified as the primary abusers of personal data:

1. Respondents reported either leaving platforms like Facebook entirely or drastically limiting what they share.
2. Despite this, many still consider social platforms too valuable to quit because they are where friends, family, and colleagues communicate.
3. Most respondents assumed that any website they visit collects personal data about them.

The Unknowns That Worry People

An underlying theme in responses was fear about where diminishing digital privacy leads long-term. The Netflix documentary The Great Hack explored what happens when companies misuse data, bringing awareness of these issues to mainstream audiences.

The more serious long-term threat involves using collected data to predict credit worthiness, determine guilt or innocence, or assess "societal worth." CCTV cameras using facial recognition to dock credit scores for jaywalking sounds dystopian, but systems like this already exist in China and other countries.

Respondents expressed deep distrust of both large institutions and tech companies. Even the US government has experienced data breaches compromising traveler photos and license plates at border crossings. No company, government, or data store is immune to breaches -- if data is stored somewhere, it can potentially be stolen.

The core unknowns troubling survey respondents:

1. Digital privacy is dauntingly complex. Regardless of technical sophistication, most people have no idea what companies actually do with collected data. Glimpses emerge through scandals and exposures, but they only scratch the surface.
2. The track record of major companies is poor. Facebook, Equifax, eBay, and Marriott have all suffered breaches exposing everything from email addresses to social security numbers.
3. We should own our data but do not. Simply being online means surrendering almost all control over what is collected and shared about us.

What This Means

Cambridge Analytica essentially dissolved as a company rather than reveal the data they collected on a single individual. They chose to go out of business to avoid disclosure. That fact alone illustrates the value and sensitivity of the data being collected about all of us.

The skeptical reading suggests we are deeply compromised as digital citizens. Even those who understand the problem continue using the services that exploit them, because the services are free and maintain social connections.

But there are constructive steps available. Resources like securitycheckli.st provide practical guidance. The New York Times' Privacy Project offers ongoing coverage of privacy issues.

A growing movement of small software companies builds privacy protection directly into their products. These businesses charge fair prices for software rather than monetizing user data, and they anonymize data so thoroughly that even a breach would expose no personal information.

Understanding the gap between privacy awareness and privacy action is the first step toward closing it. The more people who recognize how their data is collected, shared, and sold, the stronger the collective demand for meaningful regulation and protection.