Commentary

For Most Americans, Personal Data Privacy Now Rivals The Bill Of Rights

by Joe Mandese , September 12, 2018

For most Americans, their personal data privacy now rivals our Constitution's most basic rights, according to results of a recent survey conducted by James Madison's Montpelier. The study, which was fielded by Edelman Intelligence, was designed to understand how important and secure Americans believe their Constitutional Rights are, and whether and how they should be amended.

Ninety-five percent of Americans said their data privacy is somewhat or extremely important to them, about the same percentage that cited their civil rights (96%) and their voting rights (95%) and more than the percentage citing freedom of the press (91%), freedom of religion (90%) and the right to bear arms (85%).

Interestingly, 41% of the respondents believe the Constitution needs to be amended, while only 33% said it does not (27% said they weren’t sure).

Asked how it should be amended, the top self-reported response (61%) was to restrict gun ownership, followed by clarifying civil rights (50%) and gender equality (45%), but the next two highest responses reinforce modern era concerns about data and personal privacy.

Forty-two percent of respondents cited both "privacy rights" overall, as well as "more data privacy protections," as top amendments.

The next greatest response (34%) was actually for greater press protections, including "accurate/unbiased information from the government."

Asked in a stand-alone question, the vast majority of respondents disagreed that the government (81%) and/or the President (80%) had the right to "knowingly provide false information to journalists."

data management, politics, privacy, research

2 comments about "For Most Americans, Personal Data Privacy Now Rivals The Bill Of Rights".

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Ken Kurtz from creative license, September 17, 2018 at 7:57 a.m.
For most Americans, their personal data privacy now rivals our Constitution's most basic rights, according to results of a recent survey conducted by James Madison's Montpelier.

Most Americans are ignorant sheeple that dive head-first into Fakebook, and other dumbass social media with eyes wide shut about how their head-first dives are exposing their personal data to anybody and everybody, and then even more ignorantly expect ineffective, inefficent, and unaccountable government to "protect" them from their own self-exposure.

Interesting that these sheeple feel that "restrictions" on gun ownership is the #1 change that should be effected to our Constitution. Stupid is as stupid does.

And ignorance will continue to run rampant among the sheeple when our history is ignored (that is, that American prohibitions on things for which there exists great demand GUARANTEES even greater demand, and greater profits for those that ultimately step up to fill that demand). Simply put, restricting gun ownership will only guarantee that more guns, and more DEADLY guns will be available on our streets. Easier to procure, and cheaper too.

And the sheeple march on, not NEARLY close enough to any cliff's edge as far as I'm concerned.
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Ken Kurtz from creative license, September 17, 2018 at 8:08 a.m.

You know, 300% more Americans die annually from engagement with our nation's most debilitating and deadly recreational drug than do from guns (with almost 70% of annual gun deaths coming from suicides).

That drug is alcohol. Toxic to the hiuman body regardless of amount ingested, but so beloved.

Deaths from alcohol were WAY WORSE back in the day, after the dim-bulb idea to make the manufacture, distribution, sale, and ingestion of the drug ENTIRELY ILLEGAL was put into effect with the 18th Amendment to our Constitution back in 1920. Net results were MORE ALCOHOL, the greater amount of alcohol became more dangerous and deadly (there were, of course, criminals that cared only about profit in charge of production now, so their "product" was mixed with the cheapest, and most devastating poisons), and MANY MORE DEATHS OCCURED not only from the tainted booze (see today's heroin), but because CRIMINALS KILLED innocent people while staking out their turf.

Keep it up, sheeple, for more paradoxical results...