Poll: Privacy Protections Could Boost Cooperation with COVID Contact Tracing Efforts

The Frontier Institute released a new public opinion survey finding only 65% of Montanans willing to cooperate with contact tracing efforts, with half of respondents expressing concern about sharing their private information with public health officials.

The Frontier Institute released a new public opinion survey finding only 65% of Montanans willing to cooperate with contact tracing efforts, with half of respondents expressing concern about sharing their private information with public health officials.

The statewide survey, conducted earlier this month by telephone, also found that Montanans believe general public policy measures could help ease privacy concerns about contact tracing, such as stricter limits on government use of data and protections from mass surveillance.

The statistical survey was conducted October 1-5 and included interviews with 820 respondents, carrying a margin of error of +/- 3.2%.

Here are the results:

Q1. Government Contact Tracers collect information from people in order to track the spread of COVID-19, such as social media activity, location info, shopping habits and close contacts like friends, family. How concerned are you, if at all, that Contact Tracers may collect private information about you?

Q2. Agree or Disagree with this statement: My personal privacy should not be sacrificed in the name of public health to fight COVID-19.

Q3. Agree or Disagree with this statement: If a Contact Tracer informs me of my possible exposure to COVID, I am willing to share my private information with the government to help track the spread of the virus, such as social media, location info, shopping habits and close contacts like friends and family.

Q4. Agree or Disagree with this statement: In general, I would be more willing to share my private information with the government only if the law set strict limits on how much of my private info was collected, how long it could be stored, and safeguarded my information from being shared without my consent.

Q5. Agree or Disagree with this statement: In general, I would be more willing to share my private information with the government only if the law safeguarded my private information from warrantless searches and mass surveillance by law enforcement.

More information about the survey methods can be found HERE.