Seminar 4 Position Statement: Dr Jonathan Cable, Cardiff Univ.

Public Feeling on Privacy, Security and Surveillance

By Dr Jonathan Cable, Cardiff University,

Digital Citizenship and Surveillance Society Project 

 cablej1@cardiff.ac.uk

The Edward Snowden revelations in June 2013 have prompted major debates around the topics of privacy, national security, and mass surveillance. The evidence for this is that there have been approximately 40 UK public opinion polls on these subjects since June 2013. The results of these polls detail the level of concern within the population of the UK. Overall, we see an increase in concerns with online privacy since the revelations, and particularly amongst younger people there are also substantial concerns with levels of interception and existing surveillance powers of the state. In particular, issues regarding the lack of transparency over what and how data is collected as well as the nature and level of public consent are prominent amongst the British public. A brief overview of some of these findings follows below.

Importance of the Topic of Surveillance

There is a general sense that the topic of state surveillance matters to the British public. This is evidenced by public opinion of what Snowden did. From June 2013 to November 2013 there were 4 YouGov polls which asked the question “Do you think Mr Snowden was right or wrong to give this information to the press?” In all 4 of the polls a majority of the British public said Snowden was ‘right’ to do what he did (See YouGov polls 13/06/13, 14/06/13, 28/08/13 and 05/11/13). Taken together the 4 poll results average out to 49% thought Snowden was ‘right’ to do what he did, compared to 32% who believed Snowden was ‘wrong’ to leak the documents to the press.

   

The importance of this issue to the general public can also be seen in an Angus Reid Global poll from October 2013 which asked ‘Overall, how important do you yourself consider this whole issue of government surveillance of the public’s internet communications to be’? By a large majority 82% of respondents felt that this issue was either ‘very’ or ‘quite important’, and only 17% responded ‘not that important’ or ‘not important at all’.

Concerns Over Privacy

Similarly, the level of public concern about online privacy is reflected in the yearly TRUSTe Privacy Index conducted by Ipsos-MORI. Each year the public is asked “How often do you worry about your privacy online?” in 2014 the total amount of people who worried either ‘sometimes’, ‘frequently’ or ‘always’ was 89%. In 2015 in answer to the same question the proportion of people who worried about their online privacy had risen to 92%. The public were also asked in 2014 if they were more worried about their online privacy than a year ago, and given that this particular poll was carried out one year after the Snowden revelations the result is quite telling. A total of 60% of the British public felt more worried about their online privacy than a year ago. The poll enquired about what the public’s main concerns were online. This included concerns such as businesses sharing personal information, and companies tracking online behaviour. In both 2014 and 2015 20% of people cited government surveillance as one of their top causes for concern.  

Also, when the public was asked specifically about the privacy of online and mobile data by Ipsos Mori in May 2014 they saw this being either ‘essential’ or ‘important’ by a very large margin. The results broke down as: the privacy of internet browsing records – essential/important 85%, not important 12%; content of emails – essential/important 91%, not important 6%; mobile phone location – essential/important 79%, not important 18%.

Concerns Over State Powers

Concerns over the levels of powers granted to state agencies are often framed along the lines of privacy vs. security. As outlined below (see Appendix), opinion polls show greater support for increased surveillance powers at the expense of privacy amongst older generations, particularly the 60+. All other age groups show a greater concern with surveillance as an infringement upon the right to privacy. The common thread running through these polls is the question of whether or not the security services should be allowed to intercept, store, and analyse digital data. The polls detailed below covers June 2013 to March 2015. This demonstrates that the public’s concern is not abating as time moves on from the Snowden revelations.

The first such poll of the post-Snowden era was published in June 2013 by YouGov. They asked if the security services should be given the powers to access the public’s data such as web browsing, email and social media activities held by mobile phone companies and internet service providers. The question does however make it clear that this does not mean the content of social media and emails. That said, the proportion of people who said this would ‘go too far’ was 43% vs 38% who believed it was a ‘good idea’.

The divide between the age groups is clear. The three categories between 18 and 59 came out in the majority stating this proposal went ‘too far’, and only the 60+ thought it was a ‘good idea’. There were subsequent variations of this question in other polls but the proportions of people for and against remained consistently opposed to bulk data collection by the security services. The YouGov poll from October 2013 for instance asked whether the security services “should or should not be allowed to store the details (but not the actual contents) of ordinary people's communications” the top line results were 38% said they ‘should be allowed’, but the majority 46% said they ‘should not’. In this instance every single age group came out against this data collection.

When YouGov repeated the question and answer options from the June 2013 poll in July 2014 the results were almost identical one year on. Overall 41% of people thought that granting the security services access to personal data went ‘too far’, and 37% believed this would be a ‘good idea’.  The spread of opinion across the age groups remained the same as the June 2013 poll. All three age ranges between 18 and 59 stating this power ‘goes too far’ and only the 60+ category came out in majority for ‘is a good idea’.

Concerns Over ‘Bulk’ Data Collection

The second part of the polling data orientated around the clandestine nature of the interception of personal data. Following the Edward Snowden revelation in August 2013 that GCHQ had been accessing fibre optic communications cables in secret to capture and store peoples’ data regardless of any wrongdoing YouGov asked the public whether or not they thought this was right or wrong.  The overall results of the poll showed a public relatively evenly divided where 41% said what GCHQ did was ‘right’, compared with 45% who said that this was ‘wrong’. It is in the age differences where a real divide showed itself. Only 24% of 18-24 year olds thought that this was ‘right’ compared to 39% 25-39 year olds, 43% 40-59, and 46% 60+. The 60+ age group was again the only segment which came out in the majority for ‘it is right’.

In March 2015 YouGov asked the British public if GCHQ did have the resources and capability to intercept/collect the internet-based communications of everyone could they be trusted not to abuse this ability? A majority of 42% came out in favour of ‘no’ compared to 34% who said ‘yes’ they could trust GCHQ. Similarly, YouGov conducted a poll on behalf of Amnesty International where the public were asked if they thought that their government should or should not intercept, store and analyse internet use and mobile phone communications of all citizens living in the country. The majority of the British public again came out on the side of ‘should not intercept’ 44% versus ‘should intercept’ 36%. What is clear from the opinion poll results is that the total figures are heavily influenced by the 60+ age bracket. Their lack of concern with privacy is not shared by younger age groups. These polls also demonstrate that blanket mass collection of communications data is of real concern to vast sections of the population.

Qualitative findings

In addition to analysing opinion polls, the ESRC funded project Digital Citizenship and Surveillance Society has conducted a series of focus groups with different demographics of the public in England and Wales. The results of these focus groups support data from opinion polls regarding concerns with online privacy and state powers, but particularly highlight concerns with a lack of transparency regarding the collection and use of data, as well as concerns with an absence of obtaining public consent. These concerns are more prominent amongst some demographics, relating to both age as well as ethnic background with minorities expressing greater concern. Also, the focus groups explored definitions of surveillance, including the collection of metadata.

The general consensus from the focus groups was that the collection of metadata is seen as surveillance. The reasons given by members of the public centred around ideas such as giving consent for data collection, personal ownership of data, questions around why this data would need to be collected, the lack of anonymity and the ability to be identified by the collection of metadata. Overall, the focus groups highlighted a prominent concern with the collection of online data by a number of different actors, but a lack of understanding or sense that it is possible to do much about it. In that sense, focus groups results indicate that state surveillance is being carried out on the basis of public resignation rather than apathy or consent. 

Appendix

Poll	Question
YouGov June 2013	It has been suggested that the law should be changed to give police and security services access to the records kept by mobile phone and internet service provider companies. These would include individuals’ web browsing, email and social media activity, though not the content of emails or social messages. In principle do you think this proposal...
	Answers	Total	18-24	25-39		40-59		60+
	Goes too far: it undermines our right to privacy	43	50	44		47		36
	Is a good idea, given the way technology is evolving	38	28	31		38		49
	Question
YouGov August 2013	As you may know, Edward Snowden, a former US intelligence officer, has disclosed that GCHQ, a British intelligence agency, has been secretly accessing fibre-optic cables carrying internet and communication data. It can tap into and store anybody’s phone calls and emails for up to 30 days, regardless of whether they are suspected of doing anything wrong. Which of these views comes closer to yours?
	Answers	Total	18-24	25-39		40-59		60+
	It is right: the secret service should have access to this information in order to protect the nation	41	24	39		43		46
	It is wrong: the secret service should not have the power to eavesdrop into innocent people's private affairs	45	58	42		45		43
	Question
YouGov October 2013	Do you think the security services should or should not be allowed to store the details (but not the actual contents) of ordinary people's communications, such as emails and mobile phone calls?
	Answers	Total	18-24	25-39		40-59		60+
	Should be allowed	38	32	38		39		41
	Should not be allowed	46	47	48		47		45
	Question
Ipsos Mori May 2014	How important, if at all, do you think it is to maintain the privacy of each of the following?
	Answers	Essential / Important			Not Important
	Internet browsing records	85			12
	Content of emails	91			6
	Mobile phone location	79			18
	Question
YouGov July 2014	It has been suggested that the law should be changed to give police and security services access to the records kept by mobile phone and internet service provider companies. These would include individuals’ web browsing, email and social media activity, though not the content of emails or social messages. In principle do you think this proposal...
	Answers	Total	18-24	25-39		40-59		60+
	Goes too far: it undermines our right to privacy	41	51	43		44		32
	Is a good idea, given the way technology is evolving	37	24	30		38		46
	Question
YouGov March 2015	If indeed they DID [GCHQ] have the resources and capability to intercept/collect the internet-based communications of every British citizen, would you trust them not to abuse that capability?
	Answers						Total
	Yes						34
	No						42
	Question
YouGov March 2015	Do you think the [your country] Government should or should not intercept, store and analyse internet use and mobile phone communications of all [your country] citizens living in the [your country]
	Answers						Total
	Should intercept, store and analyse internet use and mobile communications						36
	Should not intercept, store and analyse internet use and mobile communications						44