Americans are concerned about nearly every aspect of electronic privacy

The Ipsos Consumer Tracker, fielded on Ipsos' Omnibus platform, asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.

Why we asked: How many times a week do you have to click on some terms statement and agree to it? And how many times do you hear about a data breach for some site or app? That’s why we asked. 

What we found: A majority of Americans are very or somewhat concerned about every kind of privacy we asked about, from tracking locations to requiring access to cameras and microphones or photos or contacts, to requiring access to your files to sharing data or saving it in the cloud. In most cases a majority of us are very concerned. 

And sure, we trade this concern away legally all the time in order to use an app, or get rewards or loyalty points, or just do something faster and easier than we would otherwise if we didn’t agree to all of this. Or even just because we want to use all the fun features. 

But it’s worth considering if all of this concern doesn’t add up over time, and if or when people might hit breaking points and what would cause that.