The Cost of Privacy

1 Consumers underestimate the extent to which their data is being tracked

A significant number of respondents believe companies are not collecting data about their online and offline activities. 42% of Americans do not think online retailers collect data about their purchase history, and 49% do not think their social media posts are being tracked by social media companies. But COVID-19 may be closing the education gap: 65% of Americans are aware of efforts to track the spread of COVID-19 through smartphone data collection, and 1 in 4 say the pandemic has made them more aware of data tracking efforts.

2 Consumers say privacy outweighs all, including tracking the spread of COVID-19

While technology companies have launched promising initiatives to track the spread of COVID-19, many consumers aren’t buying it. 84% of Americans are worried that data collection for COVID-19 containment will sacrifice too much of their privacy, and 74% of Australians say the same. While just over half of Americans (53%) are uncomfortable with data collection for contact tracing, discomfort levels increase when it comes to using data to track social distancing compliance (71%) and to determine when communities should reopen (62%).