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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:
56.9%), 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.
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