ADT has released key findings from a consumer privacy survey, conducted by YouGov of 1,230 U.S. Consumers during December 2019, that reveals consumer sentiment on the topic.
With many data privacy and security issues in the news, the survey showed that 92 percent of respondents feel smart home security companies need to take measures to protect customers’ personal data and information. However, while concerns around privacy are high, more than 40 percent of those surveyed admit they don’t feel knowledgeable on the topic. ADT suggests that the smart home security industry has the opportunity to provide leadership and guidance in this area to maintain consumer trust and promote responsible data privacy practices within the industry.
“ADT released the first Internet-connected smart home security platform in 2010, and we’ve consistently taken great care to protect and connect our customers in the most secure ways possible, using leading industry standards and best practices to guard their data, privacy and personal information,” said Jim DeVries, President and CEO of ADT. “Where there is consumer confusion about privacy, we as an industry must work to reduce that confusion so consumers can be confident that the products and services we provide to help keep them safe can be trusted. With that trust in place, there can be greater peace of mind.”
The explosion of the smart home device category ushered in scores of new manufacturers and brands that may have put convenience before user privacy. However, the ADT consumer privacy opinion survey revealed consumers are now aware of and concerned about privacy as it relates to smart home devices with the top concerns reported to be hacking (75%) followed by government spying on in-home smart cameras (53%) and smart speakers (52%).
The survey also uncovered that when it comes to how personal information is shared, consumers tend to be more concerned about how governments (89%) and companies (93%) share their personal information than they are about how they share their own personal information on social media (86%). And, despite acknowledging the importance of privacy protocols, most consumers don’t use privacy measures available to them. In fact, fewer than 40% of survey respondents reported having any data privacy measures in place at all.
“These consumer privacy opinion survey findings validate the work we’ve been doing as an industry over the past year to create a set of guiding principles, designed to help protect customer privacy and trust in the security industry and member companies, and to unify ourselves around them,” said Frank Cona, Chief Privacy Officer at ADT.
Last year on Data Privacy Day, ADT announced the Consumer Privacy Initiative, an industry-level initiative to unite the smart home security industry and produce clear guiding principles and best practices for how security providers manage consumer data and protect their privacy. Participants, including producers of security products and security related software, implementers and other service providers, and industry associations joined together during the past year to develop a baseline of industry-wide guiding principles for consumer privacy, with input from consumer advocates.
