ANU studies 3000 people. Australians are less likely to trust governments and institutions with their personal information after having checked into venues using QR codes for over a year.
Australians have become less trusting in how governments and companies use their data since the advent of pandemic and QR code filing apps.
The study found that trust in the federal government to protect privacy had dropped to 5.88 out of 10, with the numbers for state and territory governments being slightly higher at 6.07
New research from the Australian National University shows that confidence in data privacy in large organisations fell from an average of 5.70 out of 10 to 5.49 between May 2020 and August 2021.
This comes from an analysis by the National University of Australia on trust in leading institutions to maintain data privacy, which found that 88% of Australians check in via QR code all or most of the time.
Study co-author and ANU professor Nicholas Biddle said that while the drop is small, the impact is “significant.”
“This is especially the case as the pandemic, lockdowns and the use of apps for contact tracing continued, and even intensified in some cases,” Biddle said.
Our analysis, covering a time when much of the east coast of Australia was living in lockdown, shows Australians were starting to get more wary about how their private data from check-in apps might be used by major institutions, including governments and corporations.
Social media companies experienced the largest drop in trust in a year, according to a study of over 3,000 people, from 3.43 out of 10 compared to 3.08.
Meanwhile, confidence in the federal government fell from 6.29 out of 10 to 5.88, and the number of online stores fell from 4.94 to 4.58.
“What’s interesting, however, is that institutions are still more credible with respect to data privacy than they were before the pandemic,” Biddle added.
“By comparison, in October 2018, Australian confidence in how institutions maintain data privacy was 4.78.”
Despite low levels of trust, Australians are willing to continue using check-in apps, QR codes, and other tracking sites to “do the right thing”.
The study also found that indigenous Australians, those born overseas in a non-English speaking country, and people living outside of the most favoured areas were less likely to use check-in apps.
Prof. Biddle said the under-use of check-in apps could be a serious challenge in this demographic.
“In another really fascinating finding, the majority of Australians who expressed low confidence in the way institutions use their data, 54.2 percent, said they always use the check-in app,” Biddle said.
“While this is slightly lower than for those who have high trust in institutions, 68.5%, it shows that despite their fears, many Australians are doing the right thing and what they have been asked to do by governments to help each other. maintain. and their communities safe during a pandemic. “
Biddle said the study found that Australians also expressed heightened concerns about the general security of personal data and information, which “rose from 20.82 to 21.40 on a scale of seven to 28 over the same period.”
