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from the paranoia-makes-sense-if-everyone-is-out-to-get-you dept.
This is a little old but doesn't seem to have been discussed here. The Pew Research Center has released a report on privacy strategies adopted by Americans after the Snowden leaks started.
The analysis in this report is based on a Pew Research Center survey conducted between November 26, 2014 and January 3, 2015 among a sample of 475 adults, 18 years of age or older.
Concern about the surveillance programs is in the 30% range.
- 39% say they are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about government monitoring of their activity on search engines.
- 38% say they are “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about government monitoring of their activity on their email messages.
- 37% express concern about government monitoring of their activity on their cell phone.
- 31% are concerned about government monitoring of their activity on social media sites, such as Facebook or Twitter.
- 29% say they are concerned about government monitoring of their activity on their mobile apps.
A fraction of users have changed their behaviour.
- 18% of the Americans who are aware of the surveillance programs say they have changed the way they use their email accounts “somewhat” or a “great deal.”
- 17% say they have changed the way they use search engines.
- 15% say they have changed the way they use social media.
- 15% say they have changed the way they use their cell phones.
- 13% say they have changed the way they use mobile apps.
- 13% say they have changed the way they use text messages.
- 9% say they have changed the way they use their landline phone.
Spreading information about the programs seems to help change behaviour
Those who are more likely to have changed their behaviors include the people who have heard “a lot” about government surveillance (38% say they have changed a great deal/somewhat in at least one of these activities), those who are at least somewhat concerned about the programs (41% have changed at least one activity), and those who are concerned about government monitoring of their use of social media, search engines, cell phones, apps, and email.
The full 37 page PDF is available to everyone and Bruce Schneier has also written some good commentary.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2015, @01:46PM
I wonder if they asked if anyone used security precautions prior to the revelations? Those that are close to the IT industry, often the experts, already were aware of the dark underbelly of what could be possible and what was possible, if not directly aware of what was happening.
The unseemly side of IT, or any industry really, is apparent to those that are experts in that industry.
For the record, I've tried to keep a low profile, but it is quite difficult to do without my mother trying to ruin it every step of the way, trying to use manipulation and guilt to get me to log into facebook or something.
And then there is the expectation for many work places (I am a consultant) to force the people that work for them to like them on whatever or follow them on whatever or otherwise press the button from a validated account so they can have bigger numbers, otherwise you get depicted as that crazy psycho who is anti-social. Facebook was bad enough before they opened it to businesses, and then advertisers. Why would I go there to see ads and get poked by employers?
People without enough will or motiviation may easily crack under the pressure of a manipulative mother (or employers). It can be hard to get non-technical people in the family to understand why you are "keeping secrets" from them--in the public no less. Or it doesn't concern them that they have a history that can be easily looked up simply because they don't know how the difference between a browser and a program and an application and an app, and don't know how to search other than for email and facebook. It's upsetting, but it's the way things are. People that already know how to get to what they want are often not wanting to hear the techpriest tell them how to do it better, however righteous my beliefs are.
It seems the folks that I know that do this best see privacy safeguards as a ritual of some kind, as opposed to a civic duty. I suppose passionate atheists and fundamentalists, both of which often evangelize their "religions", are not much different, and so their messages are just as drowned out as the security messages.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 17 2015, @04:43PM
trying to use manipulation and guilt to get me to log into facebook or something.
Your problem is that you have a Facebook account at all. If a workplace requires you deal with scummy companies like Facebook or similar, that isn't somewhere you want to be working.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @03:20PM
Not to worry; I created one years ago just to make sure some jerk didn't create one under my name. But I do not use it; at least, not since one could become a "fan" of something. Well before the like button, commercials, and businesses were on it.
The manipulative mother keeps trying to get me to use it, and that it is so annoying that people keep wishing me a birthday that A) I don't read and B) isn't the right date. Why can't I be normal like everyone else, she says... well. I can't adequately explain that to her without appearing to be a kook. I simply have to call her or email her more often...
As for work places, these were observations based on my experiences. Places do indeed expect one to follow them on their platforms and post propaganda. One business owner obsessively checked linked in for any employee activity and kept tabs on any new connections and so on.
The social media transparency certainly can do more harm than good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 18 2015, @04:01PM
Facebook will have a "shadow profile" on you anyway, so its better to have an account so you can have at least some control over the information they have on you, untagging yourself from pictures and such.