Re: Survey: Almost half of Japanese against companies browsing personal data - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun

Thanks Karl -

That's really interesting, and a useful set of data points. 

I don't think we should be surprised that the Japanese have a strong and nuanced set of expectations around personal privacy, though. Language and social behaviour are strongly influenced by the notion of being "inside" or "outside" the social circle of the individual, for instance. If anyone's interested, the Wikipedia entry about this is quite good:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchi-soto

R

Robin Wilton
Technical Outreach Director - Identity and Privacy
Internet Society

email: wilton@isoc.org
Phone: +44 705 005 2931
Twitter: @futureidentity




On 18 Jul 2013, at 03:09, Karl Dubost wrote:

> FYI
> 
> On Thu, 18 Jul 2013 02:06:21 GMT
> In Survey: Almost half of Japanese against companies browsing personal data - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
> At http://ajw.asahi.com/article/economy/business/AJ201307170052
> 
> Survey: Almost half of Japanese against companies 
> browsing personal data
> July 17, 2013
> 
> By HARUKA TAKASHIGE/ Staff Writer
> 
> Nearly 50 percent of consumers in Japan do not 
> want companies to browse their personal 
> information, despite government efforts to promote 
> commercial use of "big data" for economic growth, 
> according to a government white paper released on 
> July 16.
> 
> To investigate how consumers feel regarding the 
> use of personal data, the communications ministry 
> surveyed 1,000 people each in Japan, Britain, the 
> United States, France, South Korea and Singapore.
> 
> The results show that 49.4 percent of Japanese 
> feel uncomfortable if companies browse their 
> individual information, the largest number of the 
> six countries. Japan was followed by 44.6 percent 
> in South Korea and 37.1 percent in Singapore.
> 
> Japan also had the highest percentage of those who 
> said they feel uncomfortable if companies analyze 
> their personal data, at 42.2 percent. South Korea 
> and Singapore followed with 37.4 percent and 37.1 
> percent, respectively.
> 
> While 74.6 percent of Japanese said they feel 
> uncomfortable if companies trade their personal 
> information, only some 50 percent of consumers in 
> Britain, the United States, France and Singapore 
> responded in the same manner. Among South Koreans, 
> 68.3 percent said they would feel uncomfortable.
> 
> Asked how they feel if their real names are 
> disclosed to third parties when they use social 
> media, such as Twitter and Facebook, 57.3 percent 
> of Japanese said they cannot accept it under any 
> circumstances, two to three times higher than the 
> percentage for the other five nations.
> 
> The Japanese government says if companies analyze 
> big data and utilize the results for improving 
> efficiency and sales promotion, it will lead to 
> new industries and services, contributing to 
> economic growth.
> 
> But the white paper shows that Japanese are 
> extremely sensitive to the way their personal 
> information is handled, and companies that want to 
> use such data should be cautious.
> By HARUKA TAKASHIGE/ Staff 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Karl Dubost, Mozilla
> http://www.la-grange.net/karl/moz
> 
> 
>