I will be honest with you, I don’t particularly care about my data being collected online. Please don’t stone me, I know I should care but I don’t really lose sleep over Google knowing that I watch a ridiculous amount of videos on town planning in the Netherlands.
You know how we humans are though, we often think everyone is like us. I’ve long thought Zimbabweans don’t really care about that kind of thing. However, a survey done by the Postal and Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe challenges what I thought was truth.
Data Privacy: Opinions and Experiences of Zimbabweans
The full report is being finalised but Potraz gave us a little teaser of what’s within it:
- 99% of respondents highlighted that the protection of personal information is valuable to them
- 93% supported custodial sentencing of those found in violation of data privacy
At first, this shocked me until I realised I was being daft. This is not about Facebook and Google crafting detailed profiles of people based on their search histories and app usage and then sharing that with advertisers. This is more about having one’s private chats leaked.
I do not know exactly how the questions were phrased but I believe that’s how people understood it. Potraz was probably concerned more about companies that collect personal information (data controllers) misusing that data.
If it’s about protecting private chats, then 100% should care. We should all want to see violators of our privacy sentenced to jail or at the very least, have to pay heavy fines.
I am not sure 99% are as worried about their digital profiles, which exclude private chats, being used inappropriately.
Violations
- 22% of those surveyed said they have experienced the misuse of their private data at least once
- 77% reported that they did not know who to seek help from in case of data violations
The leakage and exposure of private chats or intimate images to the public can be a devastating experience. Regrettably, such actions have become a widespread occurrence among Zimbabweans, who use this private information to harm their exes during breakups.
I still would not have thought 22% of adults have experienced this. That’s much higher than I thought.
I think the misuse of personal data includes having your phone number scraped from WhatsApp groups and shared with others without your consent. Many of us have been added to WhatsApp groups without our knowledge.
If we included that as misuse of private data (phone numbers), I could see more than 22% of people reporting having their personal data misused.
Other insights
I call BS on this one:
- 48% confirmed that they always take time to review cookie policies, when prompted, before accepting or rejecting
There is no way half the population carefully studies cookie policies before accepting or rejecting them. I refuse to believe it.
If you’re not sure what we are talking about, a cookie policy is a statement or document provided by a website or online service that informs users about how cookies are used on the site and how their personal data may be processed through these cookies.
Those policies are in the same boat as terms and conditions, no one is reading them.
I am curious to see how the question was phrased that made Zimbabweans lie that they read cookie policies.
For something that sounds about right:
- 47% were willing to share their personal information if they felt they could obtain clear benefits from doing so
I would have thought it would be higher than 47%. We’re freely doling out all of our data to be able to use Gmail and YouTube for free, we’re not about to start getting shy with our personal information.
Anyway, other insights include:
- 64% confirmed that Covid-19 made them more digitally active
- 47% reported experiencing a rise in unsolicited marketing communications over the past year
- 72% highlighted that they did not know how to opt out of receiving such communications
- 80% did not understand what companies do/can do with their personal information
- 25% were aware of the risks posed by ‘free’ online services to personal data privacy and security
- 82% reported that they did not understand laws around the use of personal information
I can’t wait to dig into the full report when it comes out.
Also read:
Here are your rights when people collect your data in Zim, can’t have them collect it willy-nilly
Here’s your citizen’s guide to the Cyber Security & Data Protection Act
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What’s your take?