While global businesses have spent the past few years growing their understanding of data privacy—from the scope of personal data collection and dissemination to the legal ramifications resulting from it—American consumers have remained largely in the dark about the extent of personal surveillance. Now their unawareness is morphing into concern.
Roughly 8 in 10 Americans, or 81 percent of the U.S. public, believe they have very little or no control over the data companies collect about them, according to a Pew Research Center report. The adage “ignorance is bliss” no longer applies—this rampant sense of obliviousness surrounding personal data collection leaves Americans feeling both helpless and uneasy.
