Survey. Location data is one of the most sensitive personal data types it seems according to consumers. A new survey shows that a vast majority are very uneasy sharing location data and that only a small minority share location always or very often.
Sharing location data makes 75-80% of consumers feel stressed, nervous or vulnerable, triggering fears of burglaries, spying, stalkers and digital or physical harm, says new study from HERE based on 8000 consumers in 8 countries (US, UK, Australia, Germany, France, Holland, Brazil and Japan) across the world.
Only 21% share their location always or very often. However, just as few check their location data settings pro-actively. And 8 out of 10 do not trust neither companies to handle their data according to their wishes nor government to enforce regulation that prevent abuse.
Control Means More Sharing
On the positive side, consumers will share location data when needed, eg for maps or cars safety. And 66-68% of consumers would grant access to their location, if they knew why their data is needed, what it is used for, that it is protected, stored safely and systematically deleted. So, improving real transparence and living up to the European data privacy regulation, GDPR, granting individuals new rights over their data, seem to have a significant impact on the willingness to share their data.
The survey from HERE, March 2018, also points to the fact that control over data motives people more that transparence to share their data.
