Role of Privacy and Privacy Polls in Society

Online privacy is of interest to many different stakeholders in the Internet society. The interactive nature of the Internet allows for a two-way communication between a variety of pairs of individuals: for example, politicians and constituents, teachers and students, doctors and patients , and marketers and consumers. A byproduct of such exchanges can be an electronic 'paper trail' of information about both parties. This information can be used for a number of different purposes: to craft Web pages that are easy to navigate and provide information in an easy way; to develop new products, and to craft online messages that can be informative and/or persuasive. While many online users are aware of the myriad of ways that data is collected and used, many others are not, and as a result online privacy has become a topic of debate in the public sphere.

Public opinion polls, such as those done by large polling firms such as Harris and Gallup often serve as the catalysts for such debates. Public opinion polls have been used in the United States since as early as 1824, when newspapers conducted straw votes to assess outcomes of upcoming elections . Polling firms survey large groups of people and report top line information through syndicated releases that are reported throughout the news media on a regular basis. National samples in the United States range from 1,500 to 3,000 interviews, and in general the quota method of selecting a sample is used (Sheatsley, 2000). Using the quota method, the sample is representative of proportions in the population with regards to specific characteristics seen as important to the pollsters, such as someone's age, gender, and ethnicity . Most polling today is done via random- digit- dialed telephone interviews.

In addition to alerting the citizenry about how fellow Americans feel about important issues of the day, polls are used by business and industry to measure effects of marketing and other business decisions, to track and asses a business's public image, and to ascertain consumer opinions about what is important (Sheatsley, 2000). Additionally, polling data are used by foundations, sociologists and political scientists to track broad social trends in order to analyze how social decisions are made. Political scientists and candidates' pollsters track opinion on candidates and issues during political election times.

Polling has been seen as fundamental to a democracy. Polls provide a way for citizens to have a say in how they are governed (Kovach, 1990). In a study of public opinion polls and actual policy outcomes on over 500 issues, one researcher found that policy outcomes were 'consistent with the preferences of public majorities on 55% of the cases' (Monroe, 1998 p. 6). Monroe also found that opinion and policy consistency was greater on issues with high public salience: during the time period that Monroe studied (1981- 1993), opinion/policy consistency was highest for foreign policy and energy and environment issues. Specifically regarding relations with the Soviet Union during this Cold War period, opinion/policy consistency was 81%.

In 1990, James E. Katz and Annette R. Tassone analyzed public opinion trends regarding privacy and information technology. Polls taken prior to the explosive growth of the Internet indicated that Americans thought that privacy was important, that they were increasingly becoming concerned about personal privacy, and that they anticipated that they would have less privacy in the future. Over a 15-year period, from 1975-1990, reported concern with privacy stayed at a high level, and increasingly Americans felt that participating in consumer society required a loss of privacy.

Katz and Tassone point out that while Americans believed that they were losing some degree of their own personal privacy, this loss was not characterized as a threat or an invasion. However, this perception is more than merely semantic. Katz and Tassone suggested that prior to 1990, individuals felt some degree of control over their privacy, and their own choices (to participate in consumer society, for example) resulted in their own losses of privacy (Katz & Tassone, 1990).

Privacy is arguably a highly salient issue among Americans today, with one poll showing that online Americans are more concerned about privacy than health care, crime, and taxes (National Consumer League, 2000). Privacy, though, is a complex concept and one that cannot be easily defined and measured by simple polling questions. Most Americans tend to define privacy according to its absence, that is, they can determine when their privacy has been invaded, but not necessarily when privacy is present.

Numerous types of privacy have been identified. Physical privacy is intrusion into one's environment. Protecting privacy, then, involves physical barriers to keep the individual separated from others. Psychology privacy is the degree and type of probing used in determining thoughts and attitudes, such as through surveys and polls. What many individuals think about when it comes to online privacy, though, would fall under the rubric of communication and information privacy. Communication privacy is the protection of personal communications from interception, such as through wiretapping or other technological measures. Information privacy is a state or condition of limited access to individuals, a type of privacy heightened in the public consciousness with the increase in businesses' collection and dissemination of personal information (Schoeman, 1992).

Since Katz and Tassone's study, changes in technology have resulted in a range of concerns with online privacy, subsequently resulting in increasingly complex definitions of privacy. Penetration of the Internet has reached almost 60% of the United States population, and many Americans go online daily. For many online citizens, using the Internet is a daily habit, such as reading the paper or walking the dog. The most popular online applications include those for communication (such as e-mail and instant messaging), shopping, and searching for information for a range of topics including health and financial information. The most popular applications involve a two-way flow of communication, giving Web site owners and other entities the ability to collect information about the people visiting their sites. Online shoppers provide a range of information to online retailers in order to complete purchases. Even activities such as using a search engine create a situation where online users provide information to entities in order to complete a task. Interactivity, which allows for many online tasks to be streamlined, also allows for a range of data to be collected about each of us. And with this huge amount of data gathering occurring, it is not surprising that online users wonder what happens to these huge information logs. Couple this with an apparent increase in users receiving unsolicited commercial e-mail, and it is not surprising the online privacy has become a hot topic in public opinion polls.

Defining exactly what privacy is, though, is difficult in the online world where context can change with a click of a mouse button. As previously discussed, many debates over online privacy tend to focus on information privacy, which has been defined as a state or condition of limited access to individuals (Schoeman, 1992). In other words, privacy protects individuals from any overreaching control of others. This definition suggests the contextual nature of privacy, since privacy as a state or condition suggests that privacy is innately dynamic and can change according to environmental and personal dimensions, as well as societal forces.

To assess this contextual nature of online privacy, a five-dimensional framework has been proposed (Sheehan, 1998). These five dimensions (awareness, usage, type of information, relationship, and compensation) suggest that online privacy is complex and highly contextual to an individual and his or her current online activities.

Awareness. Awareness is the degree to which individuals know and understand that information is being collected, as the level of awareness influences perceptions of privacy. If individuals are aware that the information they provide may be collected and used before they provide the information, then they can decide for themselves whether or not they will provide the information. Privacy may not be a concern. However, when information is gathered without online users' knowledge, and users subsequently find out that the information has been collected and used, privacy becomes more of a concern.
Usage. Different online entities use online information in different ways, and how collected information is used influences perceptions of privacy. It is generally accepted that online transactions and interactions require some degree of information exchange. When that information is used for purposes beyond the actual transaction and interaction, though, privacy concern increases .
Type of information. A range of information is collected online, and the sensitivity of the information collected influences perceptions of privacy. Information that is linked to an individual's economic and political status, for example, is seen as more sensitive than information that can be found in a publicly available phone directory (such as an address or a phone number).
Relationship. Individuals' familiarity with entities (such as a Web site) collecting information will influences privacy concern. Individuals interacting with companies or other individuals that they know and trust tend to be less concerned with privacy than individuals interacting with entities with which they are unfamiliar.
Compensation. Interactivity involves exchange, and what an individual receives for information influences privacy concerns. Consumers receiving tangible benefits ( discounts , future savings) may moderate their privacy concerns because they feel an equal exchange has been established.