As part of Data Privacy Day, Microsoft has released the findings of focus group research they have been doing on attitudes towards online privacy. They key findings are that people are concerned about privacy, but don’t understand the risks and don’t know what to do.
Microsoft has produced a short video of the focus group research.
Data Privacy Day – Focus Group Findings
This finding are leading us to consider whether industry, government and nongovernmental organizations are doing enough to educate consumers about protecting their personal information online. Members of industry should also evaluate whether we place too much responsibility on consumers and put greater emphasis on alleviating the burdens related to making informed privacy decisions. The Internet is evolving at a breakneck pace, and the privacy practices that worked for people yesterday may not apply tomorrow.
One of the commenter’s asks the question I would wonder about … people who were more likely to know about Milgram’s experiment were screened out (though I wonder how well – it wouldn’t have screened me out, but I was familiar with the study by the time I was high school).
I do think an interesting question would be how much prior knowledge of the Milgram experiment would change people’s acceptance of a questionable authority.