Global Privacy: An International Perspective Examining Perceptions of Information Sensitivity and Consumers Willingness to Provide Personal Informaiton

Abstract

In today’s dynamic global environment consumer data is gathered through traditional and emerging channels and marketers. As technology improves it allows for more sophisticated data collection spanning the globe. New privacy harms are continually introduced because of such advances that ultimately impact consumers, policy makers, and businesses. Considering the global stage that market interactions occur on, it is increasingly important to understand consumer privacy perceptions and identify what information is considered sensitive. Despite the global nature of privacy and personal information, much of what is known about privacy stems from a US perspective. Furthermore, a clear understanding of what types of information consumers consider sensitive beyond personally identifiable information (PII) (i.e. social security number) is largely absent from policy guidelines and the marketing literature. Information considered non-PII, referred to as linkable information, is defined as a situation where two or more unidentifiable data pieces can be aggregated and used to identify an individual (FTC 2009; NIST 2009). In this paper we address this void and examine consumer privacy issues in terms of PII and linkable information in a cross cultural context, specifically Brazil and the U.S.