According to survey results shared exclusively with Axios, Americans broadly want more control over what happens with their personal information and think that existing tools seem outdated and should be easier to use. But when you look a little deeper, you find that the polls are commissioned by companies selling privacy tools. The real behaviors are all around us, consumers using Google, Facebook, TikTok, Android, and not making any effort to modify their privacy or data collection settings.
“Americans using digital services would gladly switch to companies that are more committed to data privacy and feel frustrated that they don’t have more control over their personal data”
Exclusive: Poll reveals Americans’ data privacy frustrations by Kyle Daly on Axios
“The survey, conducted in June, polled 1,018 Americans, selected to reflect the demographics of the country overall. The company behind the survey is Transcend, which builds data privacy dashboards used by firms including Patreon and Robinhood so that their users can see what personal data gets collected and can request to download or delete it.”
The Data Privacy Feedback Loop 2020
The report from the poll is subtitled: “Today’s consumer demands more from data privacy. “The executive summary discusses ‘3 gaps’:
- THE PRIORITY GAP → Regardless of gender or generation, respondents overwhelmingly made clear that they’re willing to choose companies that prioritize modern privacy best practices.
- THE ACTION GAP → Americans believe that they should be able to access and manage their personal information once they’ve shared it.
- THE KNOWLEDGE GAP → There is universal consensus that data privacy is important, yet people want to know more.
(Extracted from: The Data Privacy Feedback Loop 2020
Which may be the findings of what seems to be a well organization survey. But I have one issue with this, as with any survey like this – the bias. In this case, we need to pull back the curtain to understand why Transcend commissioned it in the first place. Transcend sells a product called Smarter Consent Management – so their intention is to demonstrate that consumers do want to exercise some control.
Three Examples of Consent User Experience
However, let’s look at three typical consent user experiences, in relation to one of the findings in the survey ‘About two-thirds said they want to be able to choose what data companies can and can’t collect.’:
1. People simply click whatever they are presented with to get rid of the pop-up and get back to the content. If they do want to deny consent, then they deny all optional permissions.
2. Rarely do they go granular giving consent specific data or purposes and denying others.
3. The consent dark patterns on serve to confuse the user further.
The Privacy Paradox
“While many users show theoretical interest in their privacy and maintain a positive attitude towards privacy-protection behavior, this rarely translates into actual protective behavior”
The privacy paradox – Investigating discrepancies between expressed privacy concerns and actual online behavior – A systematic literature review
“Furthermore, while an intention to limit data disclosure exists, actual disclosure often significantly exceeds intention”
“Research into online service providers has shown that concrete privacy decisions and abstract risk awareness are not interchangeable. Privacy decisions do not change in line with modified preferences, which could explain the disparity between stated preferences for privacy and actual behavior”
A New Consent Experience
“Consent Commons provides a simple way for the consumer to create their own pattern. Like a 4-digit PIN that evolves into a zig-zag on a numeric keypad, it is committed to muscle memory. The PrivacyTech Vendors are all committed to helping users protect their privacy, so the personal data stores would be an ideal place to create and manage these settings. Early adopting privacy-aware consumers define and publish their privacy settings, which sets us up for the next part of the challenge – creating a compelling reason for publisher sites to adopt Consent Commons icons. Once adopted, consumers will see the icons and be able to quickly update the settings to their own preferences – as a proxy for browser-side settings.
A Commons for Privacy Consent
Why I don’t believe the Polls on Privacy
Numerous recent polls report the same – that consumers worldwide are fed up with big companies making money from their data or violating their privacy. Those polls are generally sponsored by those in the privacy game.
Each second 63,000 searches are performed on Google, yet how many of those searching have bothered to visit their Google Activity Settings. People say they want control, but they easily give up personal data for the joys of free services on the web. The personal and societal cost of that is hidden, yet the rush of having your TikTok or Instagram go viral far outweighs the perception of risk.