Are seniors more vulnerable to hacks than tech-savvy millennials? Not necessarily.
People ages 65 and older are more likely to read privacy policies before accepting them, a survey from Axios released on Thursday found. Only 15% of people in this age group “always” accept a privacy policy before reading it compared to 46% of people ages 18 to 25 and who skip to the “I agree button” without reading every time. Older adults are also more likely (91%) than younger adults (75%) to say it’s important to understand these policies.
“Consumers are increasingly aware that companies share and sell their personal data in exchange for free services, but consumers’ privacy concerns aren’t translating into concrete action to protect their data,” according to the study, which surveyed more than 4,000 internet users.
Being constantly immersed in technology from a young age may give young people a false sense of security, said Francis Dinha, chief executive officer of OpenVPN, a virtual privacy network that aims to secure online data. “Perhaps because they’ve grown up natively in this technology, millennials tend to trust it more — whereas older users are more wary of security risks,” he said.
If you don’t read the privacy policy, you may be allowing the company to track your every move online, experts say.
If you don’t read the privacy policy, you may be allowing the company to track your every move online, experts say.
A separate study from OpenVPN found older populations were more likely to use higher levels of security: Some 65% of baby boomers are more likely to use biometric passwords, compared to just 40% of millennials.
Privacy policies are often difficult to understand and seem daunting, Dinha said, which may cause people to skip over them. Following the passage of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a set of data-handling rules put forth by European Union Regulators passed in May 2018, this is starting to change.
Under the new rules, companies are required to send users simpler messages about data. Specifically the GDPR ruling says: “Consent must be clear and distinguishable from other matters and provided in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language.”
Although the law passed in the EU, it applies to any companies that do service based out of the EU or with EU residents. People can expect to get pop ups and notifications about data usage when they click on a website rather than pages of confusing “terms of service” agreements. Some companies have already emailed users to ask them to update preferences or consent to data collection.
“Understanding our data and privacy is our own responsibility,” Dinha said. “We can’t simply accept any and all ‘terms and conditions’ without a deeper understanding of the privacy we’re signing away.”
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