7 in 10 Canadians worried about protecting their online privacy, survey finds

A new survey from Interact reveals that the majority of Canadians are worried about their online privacy and the limitation they have controlling their personal information online.

The survey found that 76 per cent of Canadians having concern when it comes to protecting their online privacy while 74 per cent prefer to have more control over their online information.

Organizations giving customers more control over their personal information is seen as a is a critical opportunity to build trust, as 53 per cent of customers say the companies responsible for protecting their personal information and 69 per cent believe they should protect their online privacy.

When it comes to social media, 58 per cent of Canadians use their social media account to log in to other online services while only 11 per cent of them trust these accounts.

“When customers sign in to an online service, they are putting their trust in that provider to keep their data safe,” said Colette Stewart, senior legal counsel and privacy lead at Interac, in a news release. “As Canadians hold organizations accountable for the use and storage of data, entities of all sizes have an imperative to provide clear guidelines on how personal information will be used and to enable increased control for users when it comes to managing their privacy online.”

The survey also found that 69 per cent Canadians worry about how their personal information is being used without their consent. Most of them believe their personal information is being used for “nefarious” reasons such as tracking their location (58 per cent), manipulating their beliefs (32 per cent), and stealing their identity (31 per cent) and only six per said their personal information is being used for its intended purpose.

The survey suggests that risky behaviours such as using the same email and password in multiple websites and not changing passwords often as half of Canadians are doing put their personal information at risk.

Interac’s survey also suggests that more education may be needed when to comes to data privacy. only 33 per cent of respondents claimed to know what to do next if their personal information has been stolen online while 69 per cent said they would like to learn how to protect their personal information online.

The survey was conducted by Hill+Knowlton Strategies using the Leger Opinion online panel. Between Jan. 3 to 6, 1,500 Canadians were surveyed. Sampling was done within age, gender, and region quotas and the data was weighted on age, gender, and region according to 2016 census figures. The results are accurate within ±2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20. 

Reporting for this story was paid for through The Afghan Journalists in Residence Project funded by Meta.