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Companies must do more to protect the privacy of customers' personal information, according to a survey of hundreds of Crown Dependency residents.
Conducted by Island Global Research, the survey showed that 88% of people in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man wanted organisations to step up their security measures.
Topics included in the survey were the benefits of sharing personal data and awareness of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) due to be introduced, as well as concerns people may have about data privacy and the measures they currently take to protect information about themselves. The survey was conducted online in April and May 2018, and was completed by over 900 residents across the Crown Dependencies, in Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
42% of respondents indicated that the risks of sharing personal data outweighed the benefits.
Over half of the respondents rated their level of concern about the privacy of their personal information as seven or higher, with 10 representing "extremely concerned." In addition, 46% of people said they were more concerned about the privacy of their personal information than a year ago.
When asked about levels of concern with different ways personal data can be used, respondents expressed "fairly high concern" with all the areas asked about. Over 80% were concerned or very concerned about the ‘use of personal data for unsolicited direct marketing’ and ‘risk of identity theft.’
Pictured: Respondents said they were more concerned about their privacy and the security of their personal information than a year ago.
With GDPR looming at the time of the survey, questions also included the new data protection regulation. 71% of respondents said they had heard of GDPR while 38% thought it would improve how organisations collect, store and use personal data. 4% however thought it would be worse while 29% thought it will stay the same, another 29% were neutral.
An overwhelming 88% said organisations should do more to protect the privacy and security of personal information.
45% of respondents also indicated they had been affected by the misuse or loss of personal information, or knew someone who had.
Employed respondents were also asked about GDPR in the workplace. Only half of respondents (49%) had received training on the new Data Protection Regulations as of the end of April, beginning of May.
26% said that GDPR would cause a negative impact on the organisation they work for in the short term. This decreases to 12% in the long term.
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