UK consumer fears over privacy

New Symantec research finds that half of UK consumers want stronger legislation

Symantec has released the results of a survey into consumer faith in data protection. The study found that six out of ten people feel that their privacy is at risk.

With a sample of some 1000 UK subjects, Symantec said that 46 percent of those polled felt that current UK legislation in the area was not strong enough.
This figure accounts for both the government handling information and also businesses. Sixty-one percent of respondents said that they had little faith in the security offered to them by businesses.

Ipsos MORI conducted the research for Symantec, and pressed the consumers for more information on the threat that they imagined. Over half said that they were worried that poor control over data could lead to them being the victims of cyber-crime. Roughly the same number were concerned about their identity being stolen.