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  • Sep, 2014

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    Concern about surveillance of social media

    Q. How concerned are you about privacy and surveillance of social media? 

     

    Total

     

    Men

    Women

    Aged 18-34

    Aged 35-54

    Aged 55+

    Total concerned

    71%

    69%

    73%

    76%

    71%

    65%

    Total not concerned

    25%

    27%

    24%

    20%

    26%

    35%

    Very concerned

    28%

    27%

    29%

    31%

    27%

    26%

    Somewhat concerned

    43%

    42%

    44%

    45%

    43%

    39%

    Not very concerned

    19%

    19%

    19%

    16%

    18%

    28%

    Not at all concerned

    6%

    8%

    5%

    4%

    8%

    7%

    Don’t know

    3%

    3%

    3%

    4%

    3%

    (based on the  74% of respondents who use social media)

    71% of social media users were concerned about privacy and surveillance of social media.
    Those most likely to be concerned were aged under 35 (76%) and university educated (77%).

  • Sep, 2014

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    Actions taken on social media

    Q. Have you taken any of the following actions in that last 12 months because of concerns about privacy and surveillance of social media?

     

    Total

     

    Men

    Women

    Aged 18-34

    Aged 35-54

    Aged 55+

    Increased my security settings

    55%

    50%

    58%

    60%

    55%

    46%

    Changed the types of things I say or put up on social media

    49%

    47%

    51%

    59%

    44%

    42%

    Removed information about myself

    41%

    38%

    43%

    51%

    38%

    28%

    Cut back my list of friends or people I follow

    39%

    36%

    41%

    48%

    36%

    27%

    Taken other actions

    20%

    20%

    20%

    25%

    18%

    16%

    (based on the 74% of respondents who use social media)

    A majority had taken some form of action in the last 12 months because of concerns about privacy and surveillance of social media. The most common actions taken were increasing security settings (55%) and changing the types of things said or put up on social media (49%).

  • Jul, 2012

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    Surveillance and Intelligence-gathering

    Q. The Government has recently proposed a number of amendments to the laws governing surveillance and intelligence-gathering. Do you support or oppose the following suggestions?

     

    Total support

    Total oppose

    Strongly support

    Support

    Oppose

    Strongly oppose

    Don’t know

    Extend the power of government agencies to intercept communications from major to lesser offences

    40%

    37%

    9%

    31%

    21%

    16%

    24%

    Enable government agencies to intercept messages on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook

    40%

    46%

    10%

    30%

    26%

    20%

    14%

    Require internet service providers to keep a record of every customers’ internet usage for 2 years

    28%

    57%

    7%

    21%

    26%

    31%

    14%

    Making it an offence not to assist government agencies with decryption e.g. reveal your password

    26%

    60%

    8%

    18%

    28%

    32%

    15%

    Allowing ASIO agents to plant or destroy material on computers if they have a warrant

    27%

    52%

    7%

    20%

    23%

    29%

    20%

    A majority of respondents were opposed to making it an offence not to assist government agencies with decryption e.g. reveal your password (60%), requiring internet service providers to keep a record of every customers’ internet usage for 2 years (57%) and allowing ASIO agents to plant or destroy material on computers if they have a warrant (52%).

    They were more evenly divided over enabling government agencies to intercept messages on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook (40% support/46% oppose) and extending the power of government agencies to intercept communications from major to lesser offences (40% support/37% oppose).

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