Poll: Most want more limits on government data collection

Sixty-five percent of people in the United States say there are not adequate limits on what kind of data the government can collect, according to a Pew Research poll released Wednesday. 

The online survey found another 31 percent believe the government is adequately limited in what kind of “telephone and Internet data” it can collect.

{mosads}Overall, 40 percent disapprove of the government’s collection of data as part of its anti-terrorism work. Another 32 percent approve, while 26 percent said they did not know. 

In the years since leaks by Edward Snowden revealed details of numerous government surveillance programs, it is hard to find a person who hasn’t heard about the collection efforts. 

Eighty percent said they had heard at least a little about government collection, while only 7 percent said they had heard nothing at all. 

The poll comes as Congress runs up against a deadline to reauthorize expiring pieces of the Patriot Act, a portion of which is used as the legal underpinning for the government’s bulk collection of Americans’ telephone metadata. The House overwhelmingly approved a reform bill that would effectively end the government’s bulk collection and storage of the data, but the Senate has yet to act. 

Most people believe there should be some limit on how long government agencies as well as private companies — like email providers or phone companies — can store records about a person. 

Only 28 percent said the government should be able to store information collected for as long as it needs. Only 15 said the same about email providers, while 16 said the same about phone companies.  

And 55 percent of people said they should have the ability to use the Internet completely anonymously. 

A majority of people expressed little confidence that the government or private companies could keep their records private and secure. People expressed the least amount of confidence in online advertisers. Credit card companies garnered the most confidence, but that still only topped out at 38 percent. 

Despite the concern expressed, 91 percent said they have not changed their Internet or phone activity in recent months to avoid having it tracked. Another 7 percent said they had made some changes. 

The results come from a pair of online polls. One was conducted on 498 people in August through September 2014. The other was conducted on 461 people in January through February of this year.