Microsoft Claims The World Is Scared About Internet Privacy

People from around the globe believe new technologies are changing the world for the better, but are also – more than ever before – scared about internet privacy.

These are the results of Microsoft’s second annual Views From Around The Globe poll, which asked people from developing and developed countries how personal technologies are changing their lives.

“If there is one persistent concern about personal technology that nearly everybody expresses, it is privacy”, it’s written in the report.

Even though there are many positive aspects of new technologies that have prevailed over the past 15 years, such as increased social activism, better bargains on offer, an explosion of innovation and a general increase in productivity, privacy still remains the biggest issue.

“If there is one persistent concern about personal technology that nearly everybody expresses, it is privacy. In eleven of the twelve countries surveyed, with India the only exception, respondents say that technology’s effect on privacy was mostly negative”, it says on the Microsoft blog.

The role of technology in transportation and literacy moved up, while technology’s ability to improve social bonds, personal freedom, and political expression moved down.

According to the survey, concern about privacy has jumped 5 points, which isn’t really surprising given the high profile nature of several recent security breaches.

The survey encompasses the views of 12,002 Internet users in the U.S., China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, South Korea, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Japan and France, and was taken between 17 December 2014 and 1 January 2015 by the global research-based consultancy Penn Schoen Berland.