IRELAND’S LOVE affair with social networks continues to grow and web users here are the fourth most likely in the EU to access sites such as Facebook and Twitter, according to an EU-wide poll looking at attitudes to online privacy and identity protection.
The Eurobarometer survey found Irish people were the third most likely to share photographs and videos online.
In spite of this apparent willingness to share personal information with friends and family, the poll found Irish people considered financial and health information to be considerably more precious than others across the EU.
While the poll found 75 per cent of people across the EU considered bank account details and salaries to be personal, this rose to 89 per cent in Ireland.
Irish were even more reticent with medical information, with 93 per cent of people saying they believed it to be private compared to an EU average of 74 per cent.
Irish people were the fifth most informed about the consequences of disclosing personal information online, and the third most likely to know what happened to their personal data when they used social networking sites or registered for services online.
Despite this level of knowledge, 15 per cent said they did nothing to protect their identities online, in line with the EU average.
The figures show 57 per cent of Irish people gave the minimum data required to register for a service online. This was below the EU average of 62 per cent. A further 74 per cent said they wanted to be able to delete personal information when they liked. Sites such as Facebook have got into difficulties in the past for making it very tough to delete profiles.
The survey was carried out between the end of November and mid-December 2010, and comes as the European Commission prepares to launch a major reform of EU data protection rules with a view to protecting individuals’ data in all policy areas.
