Expert Detlef Schmuck: “Most demand more data protection, but less data bureaucracy.”
Hamburg, 22 September 2022 – The level of data protection in Germany is far too low, according to 37 percent of Germans. On the contrary, say 35 percent, who consider it far too high. These contrasting results were revealed by the “Data Protection Report 2022/23”, which is based on a recent survey by the Hamburg-based high-security data service provider TeamDrive GmbH.
Study leader Detlef Schmuck explains the spectrum of opinions, which seems paradoxical at first glance: “Most people want their personal data to be protected. But they don’t believe that today’s legislation is suitable for this.” The data security expert gives an example: “It seems like a joke that on every website you have to click away the privacy policy before you get to the content. No one can seriously expect to read the legal explanations every time. It’s this kind of pseudo-privacy that frustrates a lot of people.” It is hardly surprising, then, that according to the survey, only 12 percent rate the current level of data protection as “just right”.
Two thirds: privacy is an important legal asset
Two thirds of the respondents describe the protection of their privacy in the digital world as an “important legal asset for all of us”. “The majority of the population does not want to get digitally naked in front of government agencies or advertisers. But there is a prevailing feeling that the bureaucratic effort associated with data protection ultimately does not lead to more privacy at all,” Detlef Schmuck interprets the survey results. He points out that a full 60 per cent of respondents condemn the current General Data Protection Regulation as a “bureaucratic monster”.
Data security expert Detlef Schmuck shows a way out of this dilemma: “Data protection must be implemented in such a way that it works without the user having to worry about it. For example, many people would like their consent to a website’s data protection to be permanent or at least valid for a longer period of time, instead of having to agree to it each time anew by clicking. The principle applies: the technology behind it may be complex, but from the user’s point of view everything has to appear as simple as possible.
EU-wide data protection is “right and important”.
After all, just under half (48 percent) consider the creation of a uniform data protection standard in the countries of the European Union to be “right and important”. Only a good tenth reject this standardisation. 44 percent explicitly support the creation of an EU-wide data room, i.e. a transnational EU cloud, which per se corresponds to the high level of protection in the European Union.
“A secure environment in which one can rely on privacy being given a high priority would be highly beneficial,” says Detlef Schmuck. At the same time, he warns: “However, the latest efforts of the EU Commission are rather aimed at giving European authorities access to digital privacy. In this case, a European data room would be virtually a mockery of the desire for privacy in the digital world.”
