When we sign up for a service like Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, LinkedIn, and etc., we seem to be willing to hand over a lot of personal data, such as our age, date of birth, gender, email, home address, phone number, job title, and etc. We don’t really give it much thought, but have you ever wondered if perhaps you’re giving away too much information?
Well according to a recent study conducted by the Pew Research Center (via LA Times), it turns out that a staggering 91% of adults that they interviewed said that they have lost control over their personal information, with a good majority of them concerned about possibly being monitored by the government and businesses.
The survey also found that 88% of adults agreed that removing inaccurate information about themselves online is a very difficult task. According to Mary Madden, one of the senior researchers at Pew, “Respondents felt like there was this cloud of uncertainty hanging over how their data is being used.”
So what do the participants find the most sensitive in terms of data? 90% stated that their social security number is one of them, followed by 55% who thought that health and medication taken would be next. Personal religious and political views came in at 22% and 20% respectively, which was surpassed by the content of your email at 52% and text messages at 50%.
What do you guys think? Do you agree that perhaps we might have somehow lost control of our personal data in this day and age?
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