The young trust government, not the market, to protect their privacy

The public is relatively confident that federal agencies can protect people's private information from prying eyes, but the younger generation is more likely than seniors to look to government to enforce regulations and set standards to ensure sensitive data is kept secure, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

More than half, about 55 percent, of the public said they are confident that federal government will keep their information secure, according to a poll conducted by research consulting group Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates. When asked about specific agencies that store a lot of sensitive information in databases, such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration and the Homeland Security Department, even more individuals -- 60 percent to 75 percent - said they were confident these agencies could keep the data secure. The firm surveyed more than 1,000 Americans.

When asked who should be charged with addressing security risks associated with the Internet, however, views were split based on age. Fifty-nine percent of those age 35 and younger said the federal government, not the private sector, should ensure proper privacy standards for the public's biometric identification files, compared with 36 percent of those 65 and older saying the government should be in charge.

Similarly, 61 percent of that age group, compared with 32 percent of seniors, believed the federal government should be in charge of protecting the privacy standards for so-called location-based advertising, which uses the tracking technology in cellular networks to send marketing material such as advertisements from a store that he or she may be walking past.

Forty-eight percent of the younger generation believed the federal government should regulate standards for smart grids, which link the electrical power grids to the Internet, compared with only 20 percent of seniors. In all three examples, the percentage of those who supported federal government involvement in privacy standards decreased as age increased.

"The poll showed reasonably high confidence in government institutions to keep private information secure," said Mark Penn, chief executive officer of both Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates and public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, during a panel discussion about the results. Penn added, however, that "the younger generation is looking to the government [to address the risks], while the older generation feels, 'I want higher security, but I don't want government involved.' Those are very different messages."

Electronic medical records were the one exception, with all age groups feeling private health care providers should ensure privacy standards.

The young also expressed greater concern about Internet security, with 85 percent of the 35-and-under population worried that their personal data could be exposed online, compared with 69 percent of those age 65 and older. Seventy-four percent of those polled said they'd sacrifice capabilities in technologies for lower risk.

"When you look at trust, security and privacy are two sides of the same coin, and nobody providing cyber services can flourish without providing both," said Michael Chertoff, chairman and managing principal of the Chertoff Group and a secretary of Homeland Security during the Bush administration. "There's a brewing concern that is very real."