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Weekly Bulletin issue no. 28-29, 1997

Survey on attitudes to protection of personal privacy, 1997:

Norwegians little worried about protection of personal privacy

Norwegian women and men take a favourable view of surveillance cameras in public places. They also believe the recording of electronic transactions that takes place for instance when using bonus cards, is useful. As a rule, solving crimes is more important than personal privacy, most Norwegians say.
Men, youth and highly educated people gave the most support to the premise that protecting personal privacy should as a rule take precedence over the practical benefits of monitoring people, according to a survey Statistics Norway has conducted for Norway's Data Inspectorate.

Norwegian men and women are not bothered by the presence of security cameras; quite to the contrary, they have a positive view of them. A clear majority think video surveillance is necessary at train stations (82 per cent), post offices (94 per cent) and apartment house garages (59 per cent). The only place a majority of people are against monitoring is the back seat of taxis. Only 36 per cent support security cameras here.

Socialist Left, Liberal and Labour Party voters are generally more sceptical of video security monitoring than other groups of voters while Progress and Christian Democratic Party voters are the most positive. Opposition also increases with education, with the exception of monitoring post offices. Women are more positive than men to monitoring the back seat of taxis. Attitudes to security cameras are otherwise not particularly different between men and women.

Three in four Norwegians have one or more bonus cards. Sixty four percent of those asked said they had no problem with the fact that their purchases are registered when they use these cards. The percentage viewing bonus card-related recording of personal information as unproblematic rises with education and income. In general, Liberal and Conservative Party voters see the registration of electronic transactions as more useful than the average person. Socialist Left Party voters are the most negative.

New Statistics

Survey on attitudes to protection of personal privacy, 1997.
More information: Stein Opdahl, tel. +47 21 09 46 92, e-mail: sop@ssb.no or Elisabeth Gulløy, +47 21 09 46 73, e-mail: gul@ssb.no.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 28, 1997