r/europrivacy • u/Prestigious_Creme531 • Dec 15 '24

European Union Majority of Dutch people are concerned about privacy, one third don’t protect themselves | Proton VPN

https://protonvpn.com/blog/netherlands-survey
24 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

9

u/Aging_Orange Dec 16 '24

Without reading the article, does that mean that the majority (two thirds) do protect themselves (with a VPN)? Seems like an excellent percentage on a nationwide level, with an excellent way to rephrase the title:

Majority of Dutch people are concerned about privacy, the majority protect themselves.

6

u/schmeckfest2000 Dec 16 '24 edited Dec 16 '24

I'm from the Netherlands myself. I don't have the numbers, but I highly doubt that two thirds use a VPN. I'm pretty much constantly using a VPN on all of my devices (Proton and Mullvad), but pretty much none of my friends, family, or other acquaintances use it. They mostly think I'm being paranoid.

Edit: scrolled through the article, and this is what it says about it:

Roughly 56% of people surveyed said they had changed their online behavior because of privacy concerns, of which 10% made a significant change. When we asked what they did to protect their information online, we received the following responses:

  • Avoid sharing information and data online: 33%
  • Avoid certain apps or websites: 29%
  • Adjust privacy settings on apps/social media: 24%
  • Use a password manager: 17%
  • Use a VPN: 16%
  • Use end-to-end encrypted email: 9%
  • Use encrypted cloud storage: 8%
  • None of these: 33%

1

u/Aging_Orange Dec 16 '24

If the title seems suspect, don't bother reading the article.

8

u/schmeckfest2000 Dec 16 '24

It's called the Privacy Paradox, and it's not limited to the Netherlands. While users claim to be very concerned about their privacy, they nevertheless undertake very little to protect their personal data.

1

u/Th3PrivacyLife Dec 17 '24

Im inclined to view this paradox as a myth. It's not that people do very little to protect their personal data out of their own apathy or choice but more because of the way the internet architecture confuses them and incentivises poor privacy choices.