Public will hand over details for £5 voucher
19 November 2008 JJ Robinson
People are willing to part with their personal details for as little as a £5 shopping voucher, finds Symantec
The public hold a dim view of the manner in which corporations handle their personal data, but paradoxically they often hand over that same information in exchange for something as insignificant as a £5 shopping voucher.
A social experiment by Symantec found that while four out of five people believe their personal information is handled insecurely by companies, and that reckless and repeated breaches should be punishable in a criminal court, 100% of 207 people were willing to give away enough personal information to set up a fake identity in exchange for a £5 voucher.
This was despite a survey suggesting that 93% of people would not provide personal details to a company which had been reported as having previously lost data.
“No security measure can be fully effective unless people are more responsible and recognise they too have a vital part to play in protecting their information,” says John Brigden, Symantec’s senior vice-president, EMEA.
Further reading
Businesses could be fined 10% of revenues for data protection breaches
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