In order to protect their rights to privacy, consumers must have an understanding of what these rights are. This section examines consumers':
Since 2001, respondents report a greater knowledge about their rights to protect their personal information. However levels of knowledge are still low, with only one in four respondents claiming to know an adequate amount or more about their privacy rights as a whole. One group that appears to have better knowledge now than in 2001 is the 18-24 year olds. In the 2001 study, 52% of the younger respondents (18-24) claimed to know very little about their rights to protect their personal information. By 2004, this had reduced to 36%, which is not significantly different to the rest of the population 18+.
How much would you say you know about your rights when it comes to protecting your personal information?
Base - 2001 All Respondents n=1,524, 2004 All Respondents n=1,507
Sixty percent of respondents claimed to be aware that Federal privacy laws existed; this is a large increase from both the 2001 study (43%), and the 1994 study (36%). As in 2001, this was higher in city areas, and amongst older respondents. The largest increase in awareness was amongst 18-24 year old respondents where awareness almost doubled from 25% in 2001 to 48% in 2004.
Currently privacy laws do exist. The laws outline procedures for the collection, use and storage of people's personal information and apply to Federal government departments and agencies, as well as to health services and many businesses. Were you aware of the PRIVACY LAWS before this interview?
Base - 2004 All Respondents n=1,507
The increase in awareness of privacy legislation occurred in all states of Australia except for Western Australia, which recorded 51% awareness in both 2001 and 2004. In 2001 this was the highest level of awareness across all states and territories, however in 2004 awareness rose in all other states to around 60%, resulting in Western Australia having the lowest awareness of privacy legislation in 2004.
Thirty four percent of respondents were aware that the Federal Privacy Commissioner existed, which is similar to 2001 (36%)*. Awareness was average or higher in New South Wales (39%), Tasmania (36%) and Victoria (34%), and lower than average in South Australia and Northern Territory (26%), Queensland (28%) and Western Australia (31%).
Awareness of the Federal Privacy Commissioner was higher (42%) amongst respondents who were aware of the federal privacy legislation and higher still (53%) amongst respondents who claimed to have a lot or an adequate level of knowledge regarding their rights to protect their personal information. Males had higher levels of awareness (40%) than females (28%), and 18-24 year old respondents had the lowest levels of awareness (26%).
When asked to whom they would report the misuse of their personal information, 29% said they didn't know. The remainder mentioned the following authorities or organisations. There has been a steady increase in the proportion of respondents mentioning the Privacy Commissioner, from 2% in 1994, 5% in 2001 up to 7% in 2004. There were no major changes in the types of organisations that respondents were likely to report misuse of personal information to across waves of this study, however reporting a privacy breach to a solicitor was mentioned by 6% of respondents in 2004, down from 13% in 2001 and 11% in 1994.
If you wanted to report the misuse of your personal information, who would you be most likely to contact?
Base - 2004 All Respondents n=1,507
All respondents were asked whether or not they believed customer details held by commercial organisations are often transferred or sold in mailing lists to other businesses. Eight in ten respondents (81%) felt this was true (9% considered it false, 10% could not say). This is similar to the results from the 2001 study (84% true, 7% false, 9% could not say).
There was little variation by state or income level; however younger respondents were less likely to agree than older respondents.
Customer details held by commercial organisations are often transferred or sold in mailing lists to other businesses. Would you say this statement was true or false?
Base - 2004 All Respondents n=1,507
Respondents' level of knowledge about privacy was tested on the following statements:
All of these statements are false. However it is apparent there is still a great deal of misunderstanding with around half of respondents either incorrectly claiming the statements to be true, or unable to say whether they are true or false.
Would you say this statement was true or false?
Base - 2004 All Respondents n=1,507
Twenty three percent of respondents correctly identified all three of these statements as false, 6% responded 'true' to all three. Those with higher levels of education were more likely to indicate all three statements were false.
For the statement "The way government departments or government agencies collect, protect and use people's personal information is up to the individual departments as they are not bound by any Federal privacy laws or legislation", males were more likely to answer this correctly (58%) than females (49%), as were respondents with higher levels of education (70% of respondents with a degree c.f. 34% of respondents with primary school or less than 3 years secondary school education).
For the statement "Banks, insurance companies and other financial organisations are not currently bound by privacy laws which restrict the way they can use their customers' personal details" respondents with higher levels of education were more likely to answer accurately (66% of respondents with a degree c.f. 46% of respondents with primary school or less than 3 years secondary school education).
For the statement "Charities, private schools, private hospitals and other non-government organisations are free to sell or transfer customer lists containing personal details to other organisations", once again respondents with higher levels of education were more likely to answer accurately (54% of respondents with a degree cf. 42% of respondents with primary school or less than 3 years secondary school education).
* This question was measured in a slightly different manner in 2001 to 2004
^top : Last Updated : 27 October 2004