In an exclusively provided survey by the Ponemon Institute, attitudes of Americans regarding the sharing of their personal information with commercial airlines they have flown with during the past 12 months are revealed. While most Americans do care about their privacy, they tend to be more concerned about their safety when traveling on a commercial airline. The survey, titled "The 2004 Privacy Trust Survey for the Airline Industry," comes up with a number of key findings.
For example, four airlines that ranked in the top five for privacy (from first to fifth: Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines, Midwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines) also ranked in the top five for security safeguards (from first to fifth: American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Jet Blue Airlines, and Midwest Airlines). The conclusion that can be drawn is that privacy and security are not competing notions in the minds of airlines travelers.
Another finding is that 82% of respondents indicate that privacy is very important or at least important to them. Nevertheless, they generally are less concerned about sharing personal information with the government as part of surveillance procedures than with their own security and safety with an airline.
Indeed, more than 80% of respondents would provide personal information as requested by the government without even asking any questions. Only three percent would refuse to provide information to the government. And more than 50% of respondents do not believe that they need to provide consent to an airline before the airline shares their personal information with the government.
Not surprisingly, if incorrectly identified as a potential criminal or terror threat by the government, most of the respondents would demand that any errors in their personal information be corrected. Yet, only 21% would file a lawsuit with respect to this miscalculation. It thus appears that as long as they can correct erroneous information easily and rapidly, most passengers would not take further steps about mistakes.
The survey respondents are quite clear that they want industry and the government to take steps required to protect them from terrorism threats. This is true even if these steps encompassed background checks and voluntary fingerprinting. But this desire only goes so far, as respondents do not want added protection actions to inconvenience them with longer lines or further screening procedures at airport checkpoints. It seems that while Americans are willing to share their personal information potentially to combat terrorism, they do not want to be slowed down when they travel.
Respondents do report that convenience, price and loyalty are the main reasons they select to fly with a particular airline. Still, most respondents do want to learn more about how their personal information is used and shared by the airlines they fly with most often.
Even though the respondents generally approved of the sharing of their personal information with the government and other necessary third-parties, more than 80% were plain that they would select a different airline if their usual airline caused their personal information to be compromised or leaked to unauthorized parties two or more times.
Interestingly, the survey shows that the more often people fly, the less they are concerned about their privacy. Respondents who take more than 50 flights a year are much less worried about airline privacy protection and data sharing than people who travel less frequently. Perhaps the more they fly without a privacy incident, the less they believe that their privacy at some point will be violated.
In terms of actual privacy concerns, the biggest worry is identity theft, with the second being the loss of civil liberties caused by sharing too much information with the government. Of the respondents surveyed, 22% reported that at some point they have been victims of privacy breaches. Such breaches included identity theft, loss of information or assets, spam or other abusive marketing practices, and a variety of Cyber crimes.
When all is said and done, it appears from the Ponemon survey that Americans are fairly tolerant about the use and sharing of their personal information when done to protect them in the air from terrorism threats and so long as any errors can be corrected quickly. In this particular context, where Americans feel so vulnerable, privacy may be a bit less elevated in importance than in other contexts. Still, the survey also indicates that use and sharing of personal information cannot be treated improperly too often by airlines, because to do so, risks loss of business.
Eric Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris (www.duanemorris.com), where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology disputes. His column appears Wednesdays at USATODAY.com. His Web site is www.sinrodlaw.com, and he can be reached at ejsinrod@duanemorris.com. To receive a weekly e-mail link to Mr. Sinrod's columns, please send an e-mail with the word Subscribe in the Subject line to ejsinrod@duanemorris.com.
Reprinted here with permission from USAToday.com.