American Worry About Safety Of Personal Information Gathered By Government
Increased security in today’s world is prompting government to collect more personal information about citizens than ever before. But are Americans comfortable that the information is being safeguarded? Do they trust the federal government to protect the information and not compromise their privacy?
To answer these questions, the Ponemon Institute, a privacy think tank, surveyed more than 6000 Americans for the first annual Privacy Trust Survey (PTS)of the United States Government.
Sponsored by the CIO Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, an organization dedicated to IT education and research, the survey asked adults to indicate their confidence, as it relates to protecting privacy, regarding 60 different government agencies.
From the Postal Service to the Department of Homeland Security, thousands of Americans gave an honest assessment of how they believe the government is performing when it comes to keeping their personal information safe.
The survey showed that the majority of Americans of all ages, education and income levels–83 percent–consider privacy and protecting personal information matters that are important or very important to them. However, many respondents indicated they have a high level of uncertainty about the government agencies that collect and use that information, thus creating a negative impression of those organizations.
Despite the overall findings and public uncertainty, the survey found some government agencies are perceived by Americans as doing well; receiving very high Privacy Trust Score (PTS) ratings.
One example is the U.S. Postal Service. The agency achieved the highest privacy trust rating–78 percent–and the lowest percentage of unsure responses. Other “trusted” agencies included the Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.
Agencies that didn’t enjoy high PTS ratings were those such as the Department of Justice, The CIA and the Office of the Attorney General, which all scored a PTS below 30 percent. Dr. Ponemon pointed out that a low score doesn’t necessarily mean agencies are failing to protect consumer information.
“With most of the lower-scoring agencies, there were also a high number of unsure responses from those surveyed,” says Dr. Larry Ponemon, founder of the Ponemon Institute and adjunct professor of ethics and privacy at the CIO Institute. “This suggests that negative perceptions about an organization’s privacy practices are driven more by uncertainty, than by knowledge of carelessness or lax policies. Our recommendation to those agencies would be to better communicate the policies they have in place to protect personal information.”
To download a copy of the survey, “Since September 11, there has been much discussion about the possible invasion of our privacy by government in order to achieve greater security,” said Dr. Larry Ponemon, founder of the Ponemon Institute and adjunct professor of ethics and privacy at the CIO Institute. “Our study seeks to determine if this discussion has influenced citizens’ perceptions about how diligent the government is in protecting and respecting personal information.”
“With most of the lower-scoring agencies, there were also a high number of unsure responses from those surveyed,” Dr. Ponemon adds. “This suggests that negative perceptions about an organization’s privacy practices are driven more by uncertainty, than by knowledge of carelessness or lax policies. Our recommendation to those agencies would be to better communicate the policies they have in place to protect personal information.”
To download a PDF copy of the survey, click here.