Current Questions on Data Security (February 2023)

On behalf of the Press and Information Office of the German Federal Government, the opinion research institute forsa conducted a short survey in February 2023 on the attitudes of the German population to the topic of data security. Among other things, the survey looks at trust in public authorities and companies to handle personal data carefully, people´s own level of knowledge and experience on the topic of data security, as well as their willingness to handle official matters online. The survey also looks at attitudes towards the exchange of data between authorities or between doctors, as well as the use of anonymised data in the areas of health and mobility. In the survey period 27.02.2023 to 01.03.2023, a total of 1504 German-speaking persons aged 14 and over were interviewed by telephone (CATI). The respondents were selected by a multi-stage random sample within the framework of the forsa multi-topic survey (Politik-BUS) including landline and mobile phone numbers (dual frame sample).<br>Trust in public authorities and companies with regard to the careful handling of personal data (registration office/ citizens´ registration office, employment agency, tax office, health insurance companies, banks, e-mail providers, mobile phone providers, social networks on the internet); self-assessment of the level of knowledge about the use of data by social media, health and fitness apps and public authorities; willingness to handle public authority matters online; public authority matters that one would rather not handle online (open question); concerns about the following if more public authority matters could be handled online in the future: personal data not safe from hacker attacks, no more control over which authorities can use personal data, not enough help to operate the system, delays due to technical malfunctions; attitude towards data exchange between authorities as well as between doctors; disadvantages experienced because personal data was not protected enough by companies or authorities; kind of disadvantages experienced (open question); willingness to release anonymised data in the areas of health and mobility (improving traffic flow in cities, improving public transport by providing information on its capacity utilisation, improving road safety, improving medical research and combating pandemics); behaviour with regard to consenting to the storage of user data on the internet (accepting all cookies, calling up cookie settings and selecting specific data whose storage is accepted, leaving the page again because the storage of personal data is not accepted, generally no internet use).

Demography: sex; age (grouped); education; income level (low, medium, high); city size; party preference in the next federal election, voting behaviour in the last federal election.

Additionally coded were: region West/East; weighting factor.

受德国联邦政府新闻与信息办公室委托，民意调查机构forsa于2023年2月针对德国民众对数据安全议题的态度开展了一项短程调查。本次调查涵盖多项核心议题，包括民众对公共部门与企业妥善处理个人数据的信任程度、民众自身在数据安全领域的知识储备与实践经验，以及民众在线办理官方事务的意愿。此外，调查还探讨了民众对公共部门间或医护人员间数据共享的态度，以及医疗与出行领域匿名数据的使用情况。
本次调查的执行时段为2023年2月27日至2023年3月1日，通过计算机辅助电话调查（CATI）共访谈了1504名年龄在14岁及以上的德语使用者。受访者通过多阶段随机抽样方法选取，依托forsa多主题调查（Politik-BUS）框架，采用固定电话与移动电话双抽样框开展抽样。

本次调查的具体调研维度如下：
1. 民众对公共部门与企业妥善处理个人数据的信任程度：涵盖登记处/公民登记处、就业服务机构、税务机关、健康保险公司、银行、电子邮件服务商、移动通讯服务商、互联网社交平台等主体；
2. 民众对社交媒体、健康与健身应用及公共部门的数据使用情况的知识水平自评；
3. 民众在线办理官方事务的意愿；
4. 民众不愿在线办理的官方事务（开放题）；
5. 若未来可在线办理更多官方事务，民众的担忧方向：个人数据无法免遭黑客攻击、无法再管控哪些公共部门可使用个人数据、操作系统缺乏足够操作帮助、技术故障导致流程延误；
6. 民众对公共部门间及医护人员间数据共享的态度；
7. 因企业或公共部门未充分保护个人数据而遭遇的不利影响；
8. 民众遭遇的不利影响类型（开放题）；
9. 民众对在医疗与出行领域开放匿名数据的意愿：包括优化城市交通流量、通过提供运力信息改善公共交通服务、提升道路安全、助力医学研究与疫情防控；
10. 民众在同意互联网用户数据存储方面的行为表现：接受所有Cookie、调出Cookie设置并选择允许存储特定数据、因不同意存储个人数据而离开页面、完全不使用互联网。

人口统计学变量涵盖：性别；年龄（分组统计）；受教育程度；收入水平（低、中、高）；城市规模；下一次联邦议会选举的党派倾向；上一次联邦议会选举的投票行为。

附加编码变量包括：东西德地区；加权因子。