Lee Rainie, Director, Internet, Science and Technology from the Pew Research Center to delivered a keynote address at WAN-IFRA’s first World Media Policy Forum. Rainie is one of the world’s top academic researchers on the internet and the social changes triggered by information and communication technologies (ICT.) He talked about what research is showing us about privacy strategies and statistics.

1. Privacy in the Digital Age
Lee Rainie (@lrainie)
Director, Internet, Science, and Technology Research
Pew Research Center
6.3.15
WAN-IFRA – World Media Policy Forum

3. Background
• Surveys of U.S. adults – post-
Snowden
• Privacy issues are jumbled together
in people’s heads and don’t unpack
easily:
–Sur-veillance
–Sous-veillance
–Co-veillance

4. 1. The balance of
forces has shifted in
the networked
age. People are
now “public by
default and
private by effort.”
-- danah boyd

5. Personal information online
% of adult internet users who say this information about them is available online
20%
21%
21%
24%
29%
30%
38%
44%
46%
50%
66%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Your political party / affiliation
Video of you
Your home phone number
Your cell number
Which groups / orgs you belong to
Your home address
Things you’ve written using your name
Your employer / company you work for
Your email address
Your birth date
A photo of you

6. Who users try to avoid
% of adult internet users who say they have used the internet in ways to avoid being observed or seen by …
4%
5%
6%
6%
11%
14%
17%
19%
19%
28%
33%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Law enforcement
The government
Companies / people who run the website you visited
Companies / people who might want payment for files you
download
Employer, supervisor, coworkers
Family members or romantic partner
People who might criticize / harass you
People from your past
Certain friends
Advertisers
Hackers or criminals

7. 2. Privacy is not binary / context matters

11. 3. Personal control / agency matters

14. 4. Most accept that certain trade-offs are
part of the bargain

15. 55% “agree” or “strongly agree” with the
statement: “I am willing to share some
information about myself with companies in
order to use online services for free.”

17. 5. The young are more focused on
networked privacy than their elders

18. • Those ages 18-29 are more likely than older adults to say:
• They take steps to limit the amount of personal
information available about them online—44% of
young adult internet users say this.
• They change privacy settings – 71%of social
networking users ages 18-29 have changed privacy
settings on their profile to limit what they share with
others online.
• They delete unwanted comments – 47%social
networking users ages 18-29 have deleted comments
that others have made on their profile.
• They remove their name from photos – 41% of social
networking users ages 18-29 say they have removed their
name from photos that were tagged to identify them.

19. Young adults are the most likely to have had major
problems with personal information and identity
28%
23%
7%
13%
11%
22%
15%
14%
6%
4%
17%
2%
11%
2%
1%
9%
3%
8%
4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
Had email or SNS
account
compromised or
taken over without
permission
Been stalked or
harassed online
Had important info
stolen such as SSN,
credit card, bank
info
Had reputation
damaged because of
something that
happened online
Online events led
you into physical
danger
Ages 18-29 Ages 30-49 Ages 50-64 Ages 65+

20. 6. Many know they do not
know what is going on ….
Those who know the most
are more worried
and wary

22. 7. Many are resigned – some are even hopeless –
and their trust is fading

24. How confident are you that your records at
these places will remain private and secure?
76%
69%
66%
61%
57%
56%
55%
54%
50%
46%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Online advertisers
Social media
Search engines
Retailers
Email provider
Cell telephone
Government agencies
Cable TV
Landline telephone
Credit card
Not too confident / Not at all confident

25. Changes in laws would help
8. Changes in law could make a difference

26. • 68% of internet users believe current
laws are not good enough in protecting
people’s privacy online.
• 64% believe the government should do
more to regulate advertisers, compared
with 34% who think the government
should not get more involved.

27. • When asked if they feel as though their
own efforts to protect the privacy of their
personal information online are
sufficient, 61% say they feel as though
they “would like to do more,” while 37%
say they “already do enough.”
• 88% of adults “agree” (49%) or “strongly
agree” (39%) that it would be very
difficult to remove inaccurate
information about them online.

29. Thank you!
Lee Rainie
lrainie@pewresearch.org
@lrainie
@pewinternet
@pewresearch