Data trust and data privacy in the COVID-19 period
Nicholas Biddle,
Ben Edwards,
Matthew Gray,
Michael Hiscox,
Steven McEachern,
Kate Sollis
Affiliations
Nicholas Biddle
ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Ben Edwards
ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Matthew Gray
ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Michael Hiscox
Department of Government Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
In this article, we focus on data trust and data privacy, and how attitudes may be changing during the COVID-19 period. On balance, it appears that Australians are more trusting of organizations with regards to data privacy and less concerned about their own personal information and data than they were prior to the spread of COVID-19. The major determinant of this change in trust with regards to data was changes in general confidence in government institutions. Despite this improvement in trust with regards to data privacy, trust levels are still low.
