Individuals want the benefits of technology without sacrificing their privacy despite taking little or no precautions in order to protect themselves online, according to a study.
International IT firm EMC has released its Privacy Index, documenting a number of paradoxes inherent to the discussion of digital privacy.
The company said while over 95 per cent of respondents valued the benefit of easier access to information and knowledge, only 45 per cent said they would trade some privacy in order to make access easier.
“This paradox applies not only to everyday consumer benefits, such as searching for nearby shops by enabling geo-location, but to more critical benefits to citizens such as protection from terrorist and/or criminal activity,” the company said.
Users of social platforms who value their privacy also freely share their information on social media.
According to the study attitudes are stronger in different parts of the world.
“In India, for example, consumers are much more inclined to trade privacy for conveniences, while German citizens are on the other end of the spectrum with an overwhelmingly allergic response to the notion of compromising any of their privacy,” the EMC said.
Apart from the unwillingness to sacrifice privacy for convenience most consumers place the onus of protecting their privacy on businesses and government.
“While more than half of consumers have experienced a data breach where their privacy was potentially compromised, they are not taking basic measures to protect their information, such as changing passwords regularly and using password protection on mobile devices,” the company said.
The groups said that 62 per cent of respondents did not change their passwords regularly, while 33 per cent do not use privacy settings on social networks.
The company said 74 per cent of all respondents believe privacy would be hard to maintain within the next five years with the top perceived threats being financial fraud and businesses selling information but there is also concern over those who should be protecting an individual’s data.
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