PERSONAL PRIVACY IN A COMPUTER INFORMATION SOCIETY.

Americans live in a service-oriented, computer-based society whose collective market place is fueled by the collection, use, exchange, and storage of information about people by government and business institutions. Consequently, individuals are having fewer face-to-face contacts in their relationships with these institutions while more decisions affecting their everyday lives are being made by strangers based upon information maintained in computer data systems. This being so, public concern about privacy, specifically the potential abuse and misuse of personal information by government and business, has increased substantially in recent years. There also exists the constant threat of information technology outstripping existing legal frameworks and outpacing the privacy expectations of citizens. More than ever, government and business policy makers will face the dilemma of balancing the legitimate needs of institutions for information about people with the privacy standing of the individual. Knowledge of public views are essential to this task. The purpose of this opinion research study is to learn the views of Arizona residents regarding their personal privacy and relationships with select privacy-intensive public and private institutions. The results provide empirical data for the privacy protection deliberations of the government and business policy makers who practice within Arizona. The results show personal privacy as an issue of serious public concern, with Arizona residents requesting further government laws and business policies and practices to protect their privacy. Arizona residents recognize the legitimate information needs of government and business institutions, but they expect protections against unwelcome, unfair, improper, and excessive collection and dissemination of personal information about them. Computers are perceived as threats to personal privacy, suggesting if institutions expect to be able to continue widespread applications of computers, measures must be taken to assure the public that the personal information stored in such systems are safeguarded from abuse and misuse. The results also show that there is a direct relationship between the degree of alienation or estrangement which individuals feel from government and business institutions and their attitudes toward privacy issues and perception of computer benefits and dangers. Consequently, to affect such attitudes will require sound measures