Privacy-iStock_000019536561Small-300x225The word from Germany is that more and more citizens are highly concerned about privacy, data protection, and data security, but nobody is doing anything about it.  Based on a security 2014 report of the ‘Institut fűr Demoskopie Allensbach’ commissioned by Deutsche Telecom, 31% of respondents believe that the lack of data security is a source of fraud and thus represents a great personal risk.  Nearly 90% of respondents believe that most companies pass on their personal data to other companies, notwithstanding strict German Data Protection laws.

Only every other respondent occasionally reads privacy statements of Online shops.  The majority of online shoppers never bother to inform themselves.

Respondents reasoned that the privacy statements were too voluminous and thus too tedious to read.  A third, however, relies on adequate legal regulations on data protection and seem to have faith in the current regulatory framework concerning privacy and data protection.   There appears a general laxity concerning cyber security.  A third of respondents in the age group ’60 and above’ seem not to care about cyber security.

Source: Password Germany

BIIA Editorial Comment:
The information industry is working  at the forefront of making data on individuals and businesses secure.  One hardly hears about data breaches in the credit information industry, while data breaches in the public sector appear to be more frequent.   E-commerce with electronic payment transfers initiated from various electronic devices require secure and efficient authentication and identification services to prevent identity theft and fraud.  These are the core elements in protecting the privacy and data secuity of individuals and businesses.  Privacy laws and cumbersome statements alone will not offer sufficient protection.