Americans are paranoid about protecting their personal data, yet over 40% of them have no idea what GDPR is, according to a report published this week by security company nCipher.
The company surveyed 1132 people to gauge their attitudes to privacy a year after the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect. It found a population deeply worried about what companies were doing with their personal data, but unaware of the relevant privacy legislation.
Of those polled, 41% said that protecting their personal data was “the most important thing” to them, while 32% said that it was just as important as physical protection. They were mostly anxious about the privacy of their financial data, with health information ranking a distant second place.
What's more, 62% said that companies shouldn't be allowed to share their data, with the lion’s share (50%) of those saying that they didn’t trust companies to keep their data secure.
This distrust was so strong that many didn’t feel basic privacy measures would help. 61% believed that companies could still access their personal data after they had deleted it.
Americans were also troubled by a lack of transparency in how companies use their information. Most didn’t know what companies did with their data, with almost 64% stating that companies weren’t forthcoming with this information.
Survey respondents were also confused by the sheer number of sites holding their data. More than half (55%) didn’t know all of the sites that their data resided on, and almost as many (50%) wanted a way to track it.
GDPR addresses privacy issues like these, and it affects any US company that also holds data on EU citizens. Nevertheless, 41% of Americans didn’t know what it is.
Even fewer were aware of evolving state privacy laws in the US. Overall, 45% didn’t know about the California Consumer Privacy ACT (CCPA), which is a GDPR-like law to protect residents of that state that comes into effect next year. Even 33% of Californians were unaware of this legislation.
Almost half (51%) of Americans wanted GDPR-style privacy laws in the country, while 32% wanted the US to “create laws that fit American needs.”
The topic of Data Protection will be covered throughout the free-to-attend conference at Infosecurity Europe in London from 4-6 June. See all the talks on Data Protection here. Infosecurity Europe is the leading European event for information and cyber security; find out more and secure your free visitor badge.
