In a recent survey of 1000 smartphone users in the UK by ICM Research security company LookOut, it has been revealed that 41% of Windows Phone users actively think about their privacy while using their device compared to only 26% of iPhone and Android users.
Overall 73% of respondents claim they are very careful about protecting their personal data with an impressive 67% stating that a user’s privacy is their own responsibility as opposed to the phone network (9%), related company (18%) or the government (4%).
However, while the study examines smartphone owners’ intentions and concerns, it fails to survey users’ knowledge of privacy protection and ability to take steps to reduce risk.
93% of young users surveyed were aware of the recent celebrity photo leak scandal and 18% of total respondents claim it as sparking the most concern about their privacy yet there is zero information on what actions, if any, these same users took afterwards and if anyone actually knew how the photos were leaked and what they could do to prevent it from happening to themselves.
Likewise, while 30% of smartphone owners list mobile app data breach as an issue that sparks the most concern, 62% still download apps without reading the app permissions and 29% admit to downloading apps from unofficial marketplaces.
Protecting your own personal data can be an intimidating task, especially for the average smartphone user who may not be as knowledgeable of their devices as more tech savvy individuals. Privacy is a growing concern for many though and thankfully many companies are trying to make it easier for users to understand how their data is used.
Recently Microsoft was among the first companies to sign a “Student Privacy Pledge” to help protect student data and Skype just rewrote their entire Privacy Statement to make it easier for people to create greater policy transparency.
