Consumers in the US and in Europe believe that companies are using the consumers’ personal data incorrectly. At the same time companies feel that they do not have to inform their customers - let alone ask for permission - when they deem a new use of the consumers’ personal data is acceptable.
As more and more data breaches are being made public by the media, it comes at no surprise that people don’t trust that companies use their data correctly. It is very likely that the distrust will even rise further.
Distrust is highest in France with 62% of the interviewed people, followed by Spain (57%), Great Britain (53%), Germany (51%), the USA (48%) and Italy (48%). People said that they would refrain from buying from companies if a data breach becomes public. According to Boston Consulting this could lead to a loss of sales volume of 8% in the year that the breach becomes public.
This is probably even more likely for web companies as they usually can access and collect a lot of customers’ data. Just think about how much information you have stored in your cloud backup service or in your email account. After scandals like the recent one where Yahoo! shared bulk user data with the US authorities, many users stopped using this service.
With encrypted data trust becomes dispensable
The only thing people distrusting companies can do is to pass on data very sparingly. For instance, you can pay in cash instead of using a credit card. You can also choose to use encrypted web services. When all data is encrypted end-to-end no one but the users themselves can unlock their data. This way trust becomes dispensable because the company has no possibility of accessing your data.
We at Tutanota believe that this is how the future internet should look like. When people demand that their data is kept private, when they demand end-to-end encryption from their web services, companies will deliver. Then - and only then - you can be sure that no one is misusing your personal data.
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