The DDMA Privacy Monitor 2019, a survey of over 1,000 respondents conducted by GFK, shows that the Dutch are becoming increasingly privacy conscious. The number of respondents who know about the General Data Protection Regulation (AVG) has increased dramatically compared to a year ago (from 28% in 2018 to 69% in 2019). They are also increasingly aware of what rights can be derived from the AVG.
Diana Janssen, director of DDMA, trade association for data and marketing: "It is enormously positive that more and more Dutch people are aware of privacy legislation and the rights it gives them. This ensures that they can make well-informed choices about sharing their personal data. For their part, companies and organizations can take further steps, for example by being transparent about what data is used for and what benefits this brings to consumers. In this way, we are building a sustainable data economy, in which responsible data use is the norm as well as exploiting the full potential of data."
Other key outcomes include:
A majority of Dutch people are concerned about their online privacy, although this percentage has dropped from 65% in the Privacy Monitor 2018 to 58% in 2019. At the same time, three-quarters of those surveyed understand the data needs of companies and organizations: they understand that organizations want to collect information about them, for example, having their search behavior analyzed to improve services or make marketing activities more effective. In addition, 61% say they are satisfied with the amount of data they currently share with organizations.
Despite this understanding, few consumers for now see the benefits of sharing personal data. Only 29% of those surveyed feel they would receive better service if an organization had more personal knowledge, while a majority do expect better service in that case. Moreover, as many as 90% of those surveyed feel that businesses benefit more from data sharing than consumers.
A large majority of those surveyed (88%) also want more control over their own data. For example, more than half feel that they cannot prevent companies from sharing their data with third parties or collecting information about them. According to the AVG, however, people do have this right.
The AVG requires organizations to be transparent about how data is used and to communicate about this in understandable language. Almost all respondents think it is very important that companies comply with this (94% think transparency is important, 93% understandable language). They even expect organizations to go beyond these legal obligations. They feel that the benefits of data sharing should be made clearer and want more flexibility in determining what data they do or do not share.
When deciding whether to share data, trust is by far the most important condition for the Dutch. 37% of those surveyed cite this as the most important motive of all, and for 52% it is in the top three. Doctors receive the most trust when using personal data (89%), but banks (54%) and government agencies (53%) are also trusted by a majority of those surveyed.
View the full DDMA Privacy Monitor 2019 here
View the infographic DDMA Privacy Monitor 2019 here.
This article can also be found in the AVG file
