Opinion Survey: Attitudes of Young People towards Disclosure of Personal Data on the Internet

1.    A survey of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (“PCPD”) found that more than half of the respondents (55.3%) who wrote blogs or personal webpages had disclosed their personal data in blogs or personal webpages.  Although 62% of them worried that disclosure of personal data on the Internet would bring about privacy issues, only 48% had adopted online security measures to safeguard their personal data.
 
2.    The Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Mr. Roderick B. Woo said, “Young people are keen on online activities; online shopping or personal webpage writing has become a part of their lives.  As lots of social networking websites have appeared in recent years, it is common to find that young people disclose their personal data on the Internet.  In this survey, I am glad to know that young people rather concern themselves with personal data privacy on the Internet.  In future, appropriate education and promotion strategies will be formulated to enhance their understanding in this aspect.”

3.    To better understand the use of blogs and social networking websites by young people, especially their views on disclosure of personal data on the Internet, the PCPD has committed the Quality Evaluation Centre of City University of Hong Kong to conduct a survey on the “Attitudes of Young People towards Disclosure of Personal Data on the Internet”.  From 16 to 26 July 2007, 500 young people aged between 12 and 24 in Hong Kong were interviewed.  The response rate was 69.9%.

4.    The survey was divided into 3 parts: i) the use of blogs or personal webpages and social networking websites; ii) disclosure of personal data on the Internet; iii) views on disclosure of personal data on the Internet.

The Use of Blogs/Personal Webpages

5.    The survey showed that over half of the respondents (51.0%) had written blogs or personal webpages, but only 13% had used social networking websites.

6.    Respondents wrote blogs/personal webpages mainly for jotting down daily happenings (29.8%) and sharing their feeling with others (29.8%).  On average, they wrote blogs/personal webpages 1-3 times a week (34.5%) with less than 1 hour each time (83.1%).  Over half of them (55.3%, 141 respondents) have posted their real personal data on blogs or personal webpages, including photo or video (83.7%), age or date of birth (73.8%), real name (49.6%), name of school (34.8%) and telephone number (9.9%).

7.    In the survey, 141 young people have posted their real names on blogs or personal webpages and 25.5% of them have been approached by strangers.  Only 8.3% of them met with strangers.

The Use of Social Networking Websites

8.    Respondents used social networking websites mainly for meeting new friends (33.8%) or keeping in touch with relatives and friends (23.1%).  24.6% of the respondents used social networking websites every day, 23.1% 1-3 times a week and 12.3% 4-6 times a week.  63.1% of them spent less than 1 hour each time.  Moreover, 29.2% of respondents who used social networking websites had posted their real data on those websites, including age or date of birth (94.7%), photo or video (73.7%), real name (63.2%), name of school (47.4%), telephone number (10.5%) and ID card number (10.5%).

9.    In the survey, 76.9% of respondents who used social networking websites were aware that their profiles might be accessed by others.  However, only 36.9% of them restricted others’ accessing of their profiles.

Disclosure of Personal Data on the Internet

10.    According to the survey, most of the respondents posted their photos or videos (blogs/personal webpages: 83.7%; social networking websites: 73.7%) and age or date of birth (blogs/personal webpages: 73.8%; social networking websites: 94.7%) on blogs/personal webpages or social networking websites.  But they neither posted their ID card numbers on blogs or personal webpages (99.3%) and social networking websites (84.2%), nor disclosed their telephone numbers (blogs/personal webpages: 89.4%; social networking websites: 84.2%).

11.    Most of the respondents believed that ID card number (blogs or personal webpages: 64.3%; social networking websites: 56.%), telephone number (blogs or personal webpages: 64.3%; social networking websites: 50.8%), address (blogs or personal webpages: 47.1%; social networking websites: 46.2%) and real name (blogs or personal webpages: 32.5%; social networking websites: 32.3%) should not be posted on blogs/personal webpages or social networking websites.

12.    Over half of the respondents (57.2%) did not like their photos and videos being uploaded for public viewing.  31.4% of them said that their friends had posted their photos or videos on the Internet without seeking their consent.  57.8% were unhappy because they felt that they were not respected (48.1%) and their privacy was intruded (41.2%).

13.    Most of the respondents (75%) would seek the consent of their friends before posting their friends’ photos and videos on the Internet.  Only a small number of them have posted their friends’ personal data on blogs/personal webpages (15.3%) or social networking websites (9.2%).

14.    According to the survey, most of the respondents did not tell their parents or guardians that they had their own blogs/personal webpages (57.6%) or they used social networking websites (66.2%).

15.    Moreover, the survey revealed that respondents with higher education and older were more willing to disclose their photos and videos in blogs or personal webpage and social networking websites.

Views of the Young People on Disclosure of Personal Data on the Internet

16.    62% of the respondents worried that disclosure of personal data on the Internet would bring about privacy issues.  The major ones were: “My personal data will be misused” (59.7%), “Approached by strangers” (21.6%)     and “Financial losses” (7.4%)

17.    76.8% of the respondents agreed to the statement, “When I post my personal data on the Internet, I worry that the data will be misused.”  However, only 48% adopted online security measures to safeguard their personal data.  The most commonly adopted measures included, “Change my password regularly” (46.7%),  “Do not disclose my real identity rashly” (14.6%) and “Only those who know me are allowed to see my     personal data” (13.8%).

18.    Furthermore, the survey found that when compared with respondents who wrote blogs or personal webpages, those who did not write were more concerned about the privacy issues brought by disclosure of personal data on the Internet, and agreed that they worried their personal data disclosed on the Internet would be misused.  When compared with respondents who posted their real personal data on blogs/personal webpages or social networking websites, those who did not do so were more concerned about privacy issues.