Consumer survey
The internet constitutes an enormous part of people’s daily life, that is, from communicating to friends, carrying out research, and shopping online. The increased use of the internet with the advance in technology has affected how information is gathered and stored (Klein, 2004). The information collected from internet users, although governed by the customer’s data protection, its safety is not guaranteed. In 2018, Facebook was among many organization which faced a massive security breach that exposed accounts of over 50 million users’ worldwide (Frenkel et al., 2018). This situation shows how large entities confirm individuals’ fears over their privacy.
Individuals who use the internet have a reason to be concerned about their privacy when carrying out various activities since the safety of their crucial information is not guaranteed. The example used shows that even the large organization which have better and sophisticated security systems cannot secure individuals data. Most institutions store their data in the clouds, and the government is also adopting this new storage system. Every citizen is in the government database, and with the adoption of cloud-based storage, everyone’s information is available on the internet. Therefore, the use or otherwise, non-usage of the internet exposes everyone to the real threat of privacy breach, which should be a concern to the affected parties.
According to OPC (2018), 92% of Canadians were knowledgeable about their privacy rights when it comes to internet usage. Among them, 32% were extremely concerned about the safety of their information which they provided online. Another 45% expressed their feelings that the organization does not respect their privacy rights, and they would rather have an alternative way of transacting online (OPC, 2018). This situation shows that privacy in Canada is not a last issue as the majority, 55%, do not express fear sharing their private information while using the internet.
Reference
Klein, S., 2004. The privacy debate: this time it’s personal. The Guardian newspaper, April 26.
Frenkel, S & Isaac, M. (2018). Facebook security breach exposes accounts of 50 million users. Online. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/technology/facebook-hack-data-breach.html. Accessed on 02/16/2020.
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, (2018). 2018/2019 survey of Canadians on privacy. Online. Retrieved from https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-actions-and-decisions/research/explore-privacy-research/2019/por_2019_ca/. Accessed on 02/16/2020