According to recent research from the Internet Foundation, Swedes are four times more concerned about how the Internet giants like Facebook and Google utilize their personal data than they are about being exposed to so-called online hatred.
Four out of ten feel “great concern” about how large companies such as Facebook and Google use the collected information about them. Nearly half of the responders stated that they are very worried that their digital medical records can be read by unauthorized persons and a third of Swedes are worried that Swedish authorities will collect and use their personal data against them.
However, only one in ten states that so-called “net hatred” is a cause for great concern. Only one in ten students in school stated that they have ever been exposed to cyber-hatred, and of those only half consider the incident to be serious.
The Swedish state’s level of IT security worries Swedes even more. One out of every five Internet users intentionally avoids using digital community services due to security reasons.
“Sweden’s goal is to be the world’s best at taking advantage of the possibilities of digitalisation, and if we are to succeed, people must feel secure that the services are secure, that personal information does not fall into the wrong hands and that their data is used in a way they understand,” stated manager at the Internet Foundation Jannike Tillå.
Earlier in July 2017, the Swedish Transport Agency illegally transported a lot of secret personal data abroad and as recently as 2019, 2.7 million recorded calls to Vrdguiden were unsecured on the internet, free for anybody to download.
Forsided, 27.10.2021
Source: Fria Tider