New research from strategic insights consultancy Grail Insights aimed to find out what U.S. consumers really think about giant tech companies and the vulnerability of their personal data. The question: Are corporations and government doing enough to protect consumer data privacy?
Despite the tremendous investment many tech companies have been making in public relations and safety-related feature development, a majority of the American public (56 percent) believes that large companies only address privacy and security concerns to protect their own financial interests, rather than to protect consumers.
Privacy is not a partisan issue…
A substantial majority—62percentof Americans—feel that the government should protect them from tech companies who have acquired too much power. There isn’t a significant partisan divide on the issue—people of both parties are ready for change. While 65 percent of Democrats agree, over 60 percent of Independents and more than half of Republicans also agree.
In addition, more than half—52percentof Americans—agree that the government should break up big tech firms that have consolidated too much power, with slightly more Democrats and Independents favoring such a move versus Republicans.
…but powerful tech is sure to be an election issue
You may recall that just a few weeks ago, during the Democratic debate, Senator Elizabeth Warren was asked about her plan to break up tech companies “like Facebook, Amazon, and Google.” While this was a single-party debate, tech companies no doubt took notice. It’s a strong indication that information security will be an election issue.
Politics aside, research from Grail shows that information security is already a hot button issue. Find out more about how recent data breaches have a ripple effect on consumer trust.
Does consumer concern over data security and potential regulatory action impact your business? Let Grail help you prepare for what could be an InfoSec reckoning.
Grail Insights conducted its recent survey of 1,069 U.S. consumers.
