White House Privacy Survey Falls Short of Its Purpose

A White House survey that asks consumers for their opinion about big data and privacy may yield a few political talking points but not much meaningful or useful data, experts say.

The survey popped up on the White House's Web page complete with a video message from John Podesta, counselor to the President. Podesta has been holding meetings with a number of stakeholders in the debate, including the advertising community and, most recently, tech CEOs.

The survey asks three broad questions: "How much do you trust [a list of] institutions with your data? How much do these types of data [i.e., audio, location] collection concern you? How much do the following data practices [i.e., collection, storage] concern you?" Experts say the questions, focused on feelings of "concern" and "trust," lack context to elicit any real understanding.

"The questions are extremely broad," said Professor Joseph Turow, the associate dean for graduate studies of the Annenberg School for Communication at University of Pennsylvania. "I don't know what I would do with the answers. It's hard for me to believe this is a serious survey."