How Different are Young Adults from Older Adults When it Comes to Information Privacy Attitudes and Policies?

20 Pages Posted: 14 Apr 2010 Last revised: 1 Feb 2014

See all articles by Chris Jay Hoofnagle

Chris Jay Hoofnagle

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law; University of California, Berkeley - School of Information

Jennifer King

Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence; Center for Internet and Society, Stanford Law School; University of California, Berkeley - School of Information

Su Li

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law

Joseph Turow

University of Pennsylvania - Annenberg School for Communication

Date Written: April 14, 2010

Abstract

Media reports teem with stories of young people posting salacious photos online, writing about alcohol-fueled misdeeds on social networking sites, and publicizing other ill-considered escapades that may haunt them in the future. These anecdotes are interpreted as representing a generation-wide shift in attitude toward information privacy. Many commentators therefore claim that young people “are less concerned with maintaining privacy than older people are.” Surprisingly, though, few empirical investigations have explored the privacy attitudes of young adults. This report is among the first quantitative studies evaluating young adults’ attitudes. It demonstrates that the picture is more nuanced than portrayed in the popular media.

In this telephonic (wireline and wireless) survey of internet using Americans (N=1000), we found that large percentages of young adults (those 18-24 years) are in harmony with older Americans regarding concerns about online privacy, norms, and policy suggestions. In several cases, there are no statistically significant differences between young adults and older age categories on these topics. Where there were differences, over half of the young adult-respondents did answer in the direction of older adults. There clearly is social significance in that large numbers of young adults agree with older Americans on issues of information privacy.

A gap in privacy knowledge provides one explanation for the apparent license with which the young behave online. 42 percent of young Americans answered all of our five online privacy questions incorrectly. 88 percent answered only two or fewer correctly. The problem is even more pronounced when presented with offline privacy issues – post hoc analysis showed that young Americans were more likely to answer no questions correctly than any other age group.

We conclude then that that young-adult Americans have an aspiration for increased privacy even while they participate in an online reality that is optimized to increase their revelation of personal data.

Keywords: Behavioral advertising, online advertising, privacy, transparency, consumer protection, social networking, age, young

JEL Classification: D12, D18

Suggested Citation

Hoofnagle, Chris Jay and King, Jennifer and Li, Su and Turow, Joseph, How Different are Young Adults from Older Adults When it Comes to Information Privacy Attitudes and Policies? (April 14, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1589864 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1589864

Chris Jay Hoofnagle (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law ( email )

341 Berkeley Law Building
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200
United States
‭(510) 666-3783‬ (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://hoofnagle.berkeley.edu

University of California, Berkeley - School of Information ( email )

212 South Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-4600
United States
510-643-0213 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://hoofnagle.berkeley.edu

Jennifer King

Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence ( email )

210 Panama St.
Cordura Hall
Stanford, CA 94305
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://hai.stanford.edu/people/jennifer-king

Center for Internet and Society, Stanford Law School

559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/about/people/jen-king

University of California, Berkeley - School of Information ( email )

102 South Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
United States

Su Li

University of California, Berkeley - School of Law ( email )

Berkeley, CA 94720
United States
8476449763 (Phone)

Joseph Turow

University of Pennsylvania - Annenberg School for Communication ( email )

3620 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States
215 898 5842 (Phone)

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