Poll Exposes Generational Divide on Privacy Expectations

Nine out of 10 Americans believe the Internet has changed our expectations of privacy, according to a new poll conducted by Zogby International on behalf of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee in advance of its annual policy conference in Washington.

Ninety-one percent said they agreed with the statement that our expectations of privacy have changed due to technologies and the Internet. Seven percent disagreed and two percent were not sure.

But a vast chasm exists between what 18-24 year-olds believe is an invasion of privacy and what other Americans consider to be an intrusion. For example:

• Only 35.6 percent of 18-24 year-olds consider someone posting a picture of them in a swimsuit to be an invasion of their privacy, compared to 65.5 percent of other respondents.
• Only 19.6 percent of 18-24 year-olds consider their dating profile to be an invasion of their privacy, compared to 54.6 percent of other respondents.
• 45.4 percent of 18-24 year-olds say they, or someone they know, has broken up with someone using e-mail or a text message. That contrasts with just 7.6 percent of all the other age groups polled.

Over 75 percent of those polled said a child should wait until they are 13 or older before getting email access (and 40.7 percent of them said the person should be at least over the age of 16 or wait until an adult). In addition, a whopping 65.6 percent said access to social networking sites should be restricted until the age of 16 or adulthood. Remarkably, 18-24 year-olds tended to be more cautious than their older counterparts in this regard. Across the board, from e-mail to social networking, children should wait much longer to use the Internet according to 18-24 year olds.

Other findings from the poll include:

• Americans are split whether the Internet will cause profound change in China, or whether China will change the Internet. Forty-three percent said they believe that China will inevitably open up as citizens gain more access to information despite the government's efforts to limit it. But 40.4 percent said it will be China that forces changes to the Internet that limit the flow of information. Asian Americans polled exhibited skepticism in that only 27.5 percent believed the Internet would change China.
• One in four 18-24 years olds admitted that they missed a deadline on an important project because they chose to surf the Internet instead. Only 7.8 percent of other respondents fessed up to doing that.
• When faced with having to give up television, radio or the Internet, 18-24 year-olds opted to hold on to their Internet at all costs. This demographic decided to jettison the TV first, followed by the radio. While the Internet was spared by 18-24 year-olds, it was the first choice to be tossed by all other older respondents, who'd rather keep their television and radio over the Internet.
• Most Americans don't -- or won't fess up to -- using the Internet to check up or snoop on co-workers or a potential boyfriend or girlfriend. Only 5.9 percent said they have used the Internet to find a co-worker and only 5 percent said they have used it to investigate a prospective mate.

"Whether health care, e-commerce or social networking, privacy is at the forefront of every major policy debate," said Tim Lordan, executive director of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. "This survey raises questions that could significantly impact our policymaking on privacy in years to come, assuming the MySpace generation maintains their privacy views as they age."

The survey was released in advance of the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee annual State of the Net policy conference in Washington, D.C., yesterday.

The poll surveyed 1,200 adults and was conducted from 1/24-1/26. It has a margin of error of 2.9 percent. Conference sponsor 463 Communications helped conceive and develop the survey.

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Photo by Rufino. Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0.