Consumer-Champion.org has conducted a survey to find out if Americans would sell their online browsing history to companies for profit.
We surveyed 2000 Americans, and asked them a single question. We posed the question of “Would Your Sell Your Online Browsing History To Companies For Profit?“. The survey takers had 5 options to choose from, which included the following:
- No, I Will Never Sell
- I’m Not Sure
- Depends On How Much They Pay
- Depends On The Company
- Yes, I Would Sell
Lets go over the answers!
Of the people who responded to our survey, 63% said that they will never sell their browsing history for profit.
17.5% of respondents were undecided.
Out of all respondents, 9.3% were willing to sell their browsing history for profit, depending on how much a company is willing to offer for it.
7.1% of all respondents were willing to sell their browsing history for profit to select companies.
Lastly, only 3.5% of respondents were willing to sell their browsing history for profit.
When we launched the survey, our initial thought was that if people are incentivized they would sell their personal browsing history, however our survey shows that even if they are incentivized, the majority of people (67%) are not willing to sell their personal data.
Surprisingly, only 3.5% of all respondents are willing to sell their browsing history for profit.
An Interesting Find
According to our survey, men (67%) are more likely to sell their browsing history for profit than women (33%).
Previously, there was a similar survey conducted by HMA (virtual private network) service company to see if men and women differ In their perspective to online privacy and security.
The survey found that women are less likely to share personal information such as their birth date, real-world address or social security number on a social media profile than men (78% vs 63%).
Also, the HMA survey found that women (62%) were also more likely than men (49%) to adopt personalized privacy settings. After they experienced a security problem, women (61%) were more likely than men (51%) to take steps to change their online behavior in order to protect themselves from future complications.
Our survey shows a similar trend. Women (33%) are less likely to sell their browsing history for profit than men (67%).
Final Thoughts
We were inspired to conduct this survey after reading an article about how data brokers are selling user’s personal data and profiting from it.
The public is largely unaware of these data brokers, but these data firms are very well aware of our online browsing history and our personal data.
Last year, the state of Vermont passed a law, demanding the data firms to register with the Secretary of State. This law will help the public to identify the data firms and allow the public to directly contact them and request to be removed from their lists. This law is first-of-its-kind, but hopefully other states will follow Vermont’s example and implement similar laws.
After reviewing the survey data, we are happy to see that the majority of people (67%) are not willing to sell their personal data.
We couldn’t agree more, our organization supports stricter privacy laws at the state and federal level.
Fair Use
Feel free to use this data on this page freely. When sharing with others, please kindly refer back to the original source Consumer-Champion.org.
To request additional data and infographics please contact us.
Sources:
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2016/04/11/how-men-and-women-differ-in-their-approach-to-online-privacy-and-security/#309828a7d882
- https://www.fastcompany.com/90310803/here-are-the-data-brokers-quietly-buying-and-selling-your-personal-information