ABSTRACT
The issues of privacy and data protection have received unprecedented attention in Europe and elsewhere over the last ten years. The proliferation of data flows on a global scale via social networks, search engines, online consumer profiling and cloud computing services, to mention but a few platforms, has increased the risk of citizens losing control of their data. European citizens’ attitudes toward data protection have reflected the increased concern on the use and potential for misuse of their data. For example, the central finding of a data protection survey published in June 2015 was that trust in digital environments remains low, with 67 per cent of respondents admitting that they are worried about having no control over the information they provide online and only 15 per cent feeling that they had complete control (Data Protection Eurobarometer 2015). Furthermore, 63 per cent of respondents said that they do not trust online businesses and 62 per cent that they did not trust phone companies and internet service providers. Furthermore, 70 per cent of Europeans are concerned that their personal data held by companies may be used for a purpose other than that for which it was collected (Special Eurobarometer 2011; Data Protection Eurobarometer 2015). Within this context almost all Europeans (90 per cent) believe that the protection of data should not be confined by borders and that the same level of protection should be provided regardless of the country in which the company or authority is handling and processing their data (Data Protection Eurobarometer 2015).
