US consumers still trust brands but want more control over data, Janrain survey

Janrain surveyed over 1,000 US consumers, with nearly half of them willing to give brands a pass for data breaches as long as they are immediately informed about the attack and told how the company is responding. 42% report at least being open to forgiving the brand, while 7% refuse to forgive brands for allowing bad actors access to their personal data. 14 % have lost all faith in an organization’s ability to protect their data.

If given the option, most people (55%) would let companies they trust use some of their personal data for specific purposes that benefit them in clear ways. Only 36% wouldn’t let any company use their personal data. 66% like the idea of being able to alert companies when they’re interested in something as long as they could “switch it off” when they’re no longer interested. Only 16% aren’t interested in this even if it came with preferences control.

Moreover, 66% of those surveyed renewed their call for GDPR-like rules in the United States that force brands to provide consumers with greater privacy, security and control of their personal data. Janrain asked a similar question in May of 2018 to which 69% responded favourably to more regulation in the States.

While 44% report being most concerned about protecting their financial data over all other forms of personal data, a quarter of consumers realize the importance of protecting their passwords, pointing to sound password management as their chief concern. 61% say they are very careful about their computer/mobile security. 12% have given up worrying about their computer/mobile security since hackers can break into company networks anyway.

1,079 US-based residents 18 years old and over participated in Janrain’s latest Consumer Attitudes Toward Data Privacy and Security Survey, conducted online in August of 2018.