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%).
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%).
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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