Canadians’ concerns about the protection of personal information online is at its highest level since the Privacy Commissioner of Canada began tracking privacy concerns a decade ago, according to the authors of a new Privacy Commission report.
Of 1,500 Canadians polled in the fall, three quarters (73%) said they feel they have less protection of their personal information in their daily lives than they did 10 years ago. A majority (60%) said they have little expectation of privacy today, either online or offline, because there are so many ways privacy can be compromised.
A third of Canadians (34%) said they were “extremely” concerned about privacy, up from a quarter (25%) in 2012.
“Canadians are telling us they are concerned about many privacy issues, for example, data breaches, identity theft, digital privacy and warrantless access to personal data held by telecommunications companies,” said Privacy Commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien in a statement.
Targeted Ads
Targeted advertising may be exacerbating Canadians’ concerns about their privacy, according to the report’s findings. Among those who recalled being served an online ad tailored to their interests, a significant majority (63%) said it made them feel like they had “less privacy” online. Nearly half (49%) strongly agreed that targeted ads made them feel they had less privacy, choosing 6 or 7 on a 7-point scale.
Use of personal information to build interest profiles about consumers was another big concern. Fully 80% of those polled said they were at least somewhat concerned about marketing companies using their online information to analyze their personal interests, with 41% saying they were “very concerned.”
Marketers using personal information was more concerning than potential employers using information to determine job suitability (78%) or government surveillance (78%), though respondents were more likely to say they were “very concerned” about the latter two.
Growing privacy concerns have led Canadians to modify their behaviours to prevent their personal information from being misused, with the most profound changes happening in the sensitive mobile environment. For the first time, the majority (58%) of those surveyed reported having turned off location tracking on their mobile device because of privacy concerns, up from 38% in 2012. Three quarters (75%) have decided not to install an app because of privacy concerns.
Using privacy for better marketing
Privacy guru Ann Cavoukian, director of Ryerson’s Privacy and Big Data Institute, has argued that companies that adopt aggressive privacy and data protection strategies can increase consumer trust and differentiate themselves from competitors. The report lends strength to that view, finding that a strong majority (81%) of those polled said they would choose to do business with a company specifically because of its reputation for privacy.
“Canadians deeply value privacy, but fear they are losing the control they have over their personal information,” Therrien said. “It’s imperative we find ways to enhance that sense of control so that people feel their privacy rights are being respected.”
One way marketers can help consumers feel more control is by giving them more information about how data is collected and used. Most Canadians (56%) said they did not feel they had sufficient knowledge to properly protect their privacy, something companies can help to ameliorate by providing greater transparency about privacy practices. Although only 29% of Canadians had asked a company how it planned to use their data, the majority of those that did (57%) were satisfied enough with the responses that they decided to do business with the company.
The telephone survey of 1,500 Canadians was conducted by Phoenix Research Strategies in fall 2014.
