{
    "version" : "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1",
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    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "Trends on Tuesday: Half of Online Americans Don’t Know What a Privacy Policy Is |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Trends on Tuesday: Half of Online Americans Don’t Know What a Privacy Policy Is",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/23/trends-on-tuesday-half-of-online-americans-dont-know-what-a-privacy-policy-is/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Trends on Tuesday: Half of Online Americans Don’t Know What a Privacy Policy Is","summary" : "Federal agencies are required by law to use privacy policies on their digital properties that explain how they use the data they collect about users and visitors. This ensures that these users and visitors know what the government is doing with their data.","date" : "2014-12-23T09:00:17-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"jparcell" : "Jacob Parcell"},"topics" : {
        
            "emerging-tech" : "Emerging tech",
            "emerging-tech" : "Emerging tech",
            "mobile" : "Mobile",
            "privacy" : "Privacy",
            "product-and-project-management" : "Product and project management",
            "security" : "Security"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2014-12-23-trends-on-tuesday-half-of-online-americans-dont-know-what-a-privacy-policy-is.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2014/12/2014-12-23-trends-on-tuesday-half-of-online-americans-dont-know-what-a-privacy-policy-is.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/12/2014-12-23-trends-on-tuesday-half-of-online-americans-dont-know-what-a-privacy-policy-is.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2014/12/2014-12-23-trends-on-tuesday-half-of-online-americans-dont-know-what-a-privacy-policy-is.md","slug" : "trends-on-tuesday-half-of-online-americans-dont-know-what-a-privacy-policy-is","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/23/trends-on-tuesday-half-of-online-americans-dont-know-what-a-privacy-policy-is/","content" :"\u003cp\u003eFederal agencies are required by law \u003ca href=\"https://www.digitalgov.gov/resources/checklist-of-requirements-for-federal-digital-services#privacy-and-identity-management\"\u003esee the list of applicable ones here\u003c/a\u003e to use privacy policies on their digital properties that explain how they use the data they collect about users and visitors. This ensures that these users and visitors know what the government is doing with their data.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2014/12/600-x-226-Online-privacy-tupungato-iStock-Thinkstock-482992487.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Word cloud about online privacy\"/\u003e\u003cp\u003etupungato/iStock/Thinkstock\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe problem, according to Pew Research, is that \u003ca href=\"http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/04/half-of-americans-dont-know-what-a-privacy-policy-is/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center\u0026amp;utm_campaign=2d494ce46d-Pew_Internet_newsletter_121014\u0026amp;utm_medium=email\u0026amp;utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-2d494ce46d-399422789\"\u003ehalf of these users don’t know what a privacy policy is\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;When Pew Research Center asked about this [a privacy policy] on a recent survey measuring \u003ca href=\"http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/11/25/web-iq/\"\u003epublic knowledge of technology and the Web\u003c/a\u003e, we found that it was one that many Americans answered incorrectly. Our true/false statement question asked, “When a company posts a privacy policy, it ensures that the company keeps confidential all the information it collects on users.” \u003cem\u003eSome 52% of Internet users believe—incorrectly—that this statement is true, and that privacy policies actually ensure the confidentiality of their personal information\u003c/em\u003e.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the article, researcher Joseph Turow states there are several issues contributing to confusion over privacy policies:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eassumptions users make about what it means to have a privacy policy in the first place (i.e., it means they keep info private),\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eprivacy policies that are often difficult to interpret,\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eusers not fully understanding the scope of the data that is being collected on them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"privacy-impact-assessments--the-internet-of-things\"\u003ePrivacy Impact Assessments \u0026amp; the Internet of Things\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCheryl Hackley\u003c/strong\u003e from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wrote about the confusion around Privacy Impact Assessment policies in her role as social media lead there and \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2013/09/20/privacy-policies-terms-of-service-and-pias-oh-my/\"\u003enoted that making these policies as clear is possible\u003c/a\u003e is a helpful thing government agencies can do.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA concern the Pew article raises is that with the influx of more mobile devices and Internet of Things technologies that rely on data, organizations will be using even more information about users, which have bigger implications for privacy. Recently, Jordan Higgins, from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), wrote a \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/10/30/cyber-house-of-horrors/\" title=\"Beware the Cyber Security House of Horrors!\"\u003emust-read on the impacts of security and privacy\u003c/a\u003e when it comes to the Internet of Things. The \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/\" title=\"Mobile\"\u003eMobileGov Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e also noted privacy and identify management as a significant challenge for mobile implementation during the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2011/06/21/making-mobile-gov-project/\" title=\"Making Mobile Gov Project\"\u003eMaking MobileGov Project\u003c/a\u003e four years ago.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow should government handle digital privacy issues moving forward? This would be a great topic to recommend for our crowdsourced \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/12/15/crowdsourced-digital-citizen-services-summit/\" title=\"Crowdsourced Digital Citizen Services Summit\"\u003e2015 DigitalGov Citizen Services Summit\u003c/a\u003e programming!\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}