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2. Creation of Privacy Indexes
In this section, we present the methodology used by Westin for creating the indexes for each of
the reports that we obtained. We present the methodology in chronological order of the study. We
provide the actual questions from the reports, options provided to the samples, results for these
specific questions and definitions given by Westin for the categories of people.
2.1. Harris – Equifax Consumer Privacy Survey – 1990 and 1991
The earliest privacy index we studied was Westin’s “General Privacy Concern Index,” developed
as part of the 1990 study. In order to gain a better understanding of privacy concerns, Westin used
a series of four questions to divide respondents into three groups, representing levels of privacy
concern. As reported in Westin’s 1991 survey report [10], respondents were asked:
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1. Whether they are very concerned about threats to their personal privacy today.
2. Whether they agree strongly that business organizations seek excessively personal
information from consumers.
3. Whether they agree strongly that the Federal government since Watergate is still invading
the citizen’s privacy.
4. Whether they agree that consumers have lost all control over circulation of their
information.
The answers to these questions were used to assign each respondent to a privacy concern group as
follows:
High – 3 or 4 privacy-concerned answers
Moderate – 2 privacy-concerned answers
Low – 1 or no privacy-concerned answers
Westin then examined respondents’ responses to all the other privacy-related questions in the
1990 study and found that the general privacy concern index was a good predictor for relating
general concern level and privacy concern level.
Using the classification mentioned above, Westin divided the respondents into the following
categories
:
The privacy Fundamentalists: Fundamentalists are generally distrustful of organizations
that ask for their personal information, worried about the accuracy of computerized
information and additional uses made of it, and are in favor of new laws and regulatory
actions to spell out privacy rights and provide enforceable remedies. They generally
choose privacy controls over consumer-service benefits when these compete with each
other. About 25% of the public are privacy Fundamentalists.
The Pragmatic: They weigh the benefits to them of various consumer opportunities and
services, protections of public safety or enforcement of personal morality against the
degree of intrusiveness of personal information sought and the increase in government
power involved. They look to see what practical procedures for accuracy, challenge and
correction of errors the business organization or government agency follows when
consumer or citizen evaluations are involved. They believe that business organizations or
government should “earn” the public’s trust rather than assume automatically that they
have it. And, where consumer matters are involved, they want the opportunity to decide
whether to opt out of even non-evaluative uses of their personal information as in
compilations of mailing lists. About 57% of public fall into this category.
The Unconcerned: The Unconcerned are generally trustful of organizations collecting
their personal information, comfortable with existing organizational procedures and uses
are ready to forego privacy claims to secure consumer-service benefits or public-order
values and not in favor of the enactment of new privacy laws or regulations. About 18% of
public fall into this category.
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We were unable to obtain the complete report of the 1990 study. The privacy index that we have provided
here for the year 1990 is from the 1991 report [10].