Awareness, values and attitudes of user generated content website users and non-users towards privacy in the UK : a quantitative study

Abstract

This document presents the UK results of a study undertaken as part of the CONSENT project. Analyses and results are based on an online survey regarding the awareness, values and attitudes of user generated content (UGC) website users towards privacy. The questionnaire consisted of 75 questions and was available online in several European languages, including Dutch, between July and December 2011. The UK sample consists of 1339 respondents (15.5% of the total sample), of which 36.1% male and 63.9% female, with an average age of 28 and 67.3% tertiary education. With 93% UGC users (total sample 90%), 10.86 mean years of internet usage (total sample 10.67) and 91.5% using the internet at home every day or almost every day (total sample 93%), it is a considered a sample of predominantly experienced internet users. This level of experience is in line with the UK respondents’ awareness and behaviour regarding the handling of technical details: 64% are aware of “cookies” (total sample 65%), and more than two out of three respondents actually disabled them (UK 72%, total sample 68%). On the level of specific technical measures taken to maintain or increase personal internet security, all practices (pop-up window blockers, checking opt-in / opt-out boxes, checking for spyware, clearing the browser history, blocking emails) are well established, with the UK sample showing results that are noticeably above the overall sample average.