Two surveys were conducted by Gallup in January 2008, investigating the perceptions on data protection among EU citizens and data controllers respectively. The surveys involved about 27000 EU citizens and 5000 companies from all 27 member states.
The findings of the surveys show that 82% of European Internet users have little trust in personal data management on the Internet and 64% of EU citizens are concerned about data protection issues feeling that the awareness and information on these topics are not satisfactory enough. The lack of information appeared to be a major problem. Especially the national data protection authorities were rather unknown to most of the EU citizens.
Only 28% of respondents said they knew about such institutions existing in their country.
Less than half of the respondents think data is properly protected in their own countries and more than half of them considering the legislation cannot cope with the increasing amount of exchanged personal information.
The surveys also reveal an increase in the awareness of the risks related to potential abuses of private data, proportional to the increased use of privacy protecting tools and technologies. Privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) that include automatic anonymisation after a certain lapse of time, encryption tools and cookie-cutters, are better known by companies, more than half of them using now such tools. The studies revealed that, although increasing, the level of awareness it still relatively low among EU citizens. More than two thirds of Internet users in some country (such as Ireland or France) say they have never heard of PETs.
One of the topics covered by the studies was data monitoring. Citizens, as well as data controllers, agree on the monitoring of passenger flight details (82%), telephone calls (72%), Internet (75%) and credit card usage (69%) to combat terrorism but only within well-defined limits. About a third of the respondents believe only suspects should be monitored while about 20% wanted even stricter safeguards.
Commenting on the results of the surveys, Commission Vice-President Jacques Barrot, temporarily in charge of justice and home affairs, said: "It is our intention to fully analyse and understand the feedback we have been given by Europe's citizens in this survey and we will ensure these comments inform the work we are doing in this area this year. I am convinced that this survey will also be a salutary lesson for all stakeholders involved in handling personal data and maintaining data protection".
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/248
