Americans Relatively Sanguine About Online Privacy, Study Says

A new survey suggests that revelations about government online snooping provided by Edward Snowden did not raise concerns about online privacy to the same degree in the United States as in other countries. But it also indicates that a majority of Americans are worried about the security of personal information.

The online survey of 23,326 people in 24 countries conducted for Centre for International Governance Innovation, a Canadian research group, also found that Americans view the Internet as less vital to their economic, social and political future than other people worldwide. While the poll found that the information leaked by Snowden about government online surveillance was well known in the United States, 62 percent of American respondents told Ipsos, a polling firm, that they were more concerned about online privacy now than they were a year ago. By comparison, that worry had increased for 83 percent of respondents in Brazil, India and Nigeria during the same period. People in Sweden were the most sanguine, with only 46 percent indicating that their privacy worries have increased. But Americans are nevertheless unhappy with the state of online security. Just 45 percent of American respondents said they thought that the government did “a very good job of making sure the Internet in their country is safe and secure.” Tunisians were the most satisfied, with 82 percent agreeing with that statement while, at the other extreme, only 25 percent of Japanese respondents said that was the case.