Malta third largest EU users of social networking sites

Despite being more likely to engage in social networking or shop online, the Maltese are less aware of data protection issues related to the online disclosure of personal details, when compared to most Europeans.

This emerges from an EU-wide Eurobarometer survey on attitudes towards data protection in Europe.

According to the survey, social networking sites are used most often in Hungary (80%), Latvia (73%), Malta (71%), Ireland (68%), Cyprus, Slovakia (both 66%), Poland and Denmark (both 63%), and least in Germany (37%).

The Maltese are also more likely to buy online than other Europeans, (62% in Malta versus an EU average of 60%) and to bank from home (58% in Malta versus 47% in Malta compared to 47% in EU).

The third most frequent online activity among European internet users – instant messaging and chatting on websites – is most widespread in Bulgaria (73%), Spain (69%), Hungary (65%), Slovakia, Cyprus (both 58%) and Malta (56%).

But the Maltese are the third most likely nationality to hold themselves personally responsible for the safe handling of information they disclose on a social networking site.

A country-by-country analysis shows that in 23 of the 27 EU Member States, respondents primarily hold themselves responsible for the safe handling of personal data, most strikingly in Cyprus (68%), Ireland and Romania (both 65%), and Malta (64%); the lowest scores were recorded in Spain (37%) and Italy (38%).

In the remaining four member States, more – or at least similar – percentages of respondents hold social networking or sharing sites responsible: Denmark (49% and 41%), Finland (46% and 45%), the Czech Republic (44% and 42%), and Sweden (44% for both site types).

Holding social networking or sharing sites responsible is reported least often in Romania, Malta, and Cyprus (all 15%).

The Maltese are also among the most likely to feel in control of the information they disclose on the internet. The largest proportions of respondents feeling in complete control are recorded in Cyprus (52%) and Malta (45%).

The countries in which the largest proportions of interviewees felt they have no control at all were Germany, France (both 29%), Latvia, and Romania (both 27%).

Almost three out of ten European interviewees (28%) feel obliged to disclose personal information on the internet. This was the majority view in countries like Denmark, the Czech Republic and Italy, but was least frequent in Slovenia (8%) and Malta and Latvia (both 11%).

All Europeans surveyed were asked whether they had heard of or experienced issues related to data losses and identity theft in the last 12 months. 59% of the Maltese (compared to 44% of Europeans) had never heard about identity theft.This was the second highest score in Europe after Portugal, where 66% had never heard of identity theft.

What is personal?

Apart from issues related to the internet, the survey also questioned respondents on other data collected and stored by other entities like government.

Respondents were asked which information and data should be considered personal.

The most mentioned were financial information and health.

83% of the Maltese (compared to 75% of Europeans) consider financial information, such as salary, bank details, and credit record, to be personal, 79% of the Maltese (compared to 74% of Europeans) consider medical information to be personal.

Only 58% of the Maltese (compared to 64% of Europeans) consider their fingerprints to be personal information. While 57% consider their home address as personal information, only 42% of the Maltese think so. But the Maltese are more likely to consider photos taken of them to be personal than other Europeans (54% compared to 48%). But while 73% of European consider ID card numbers to be personal information only 53% of Maltese regard this information to be personal.

This was the most cited item in eight Member States: Denmark (91%), the Netherlands, Luxembourg (both 90%), Finland (88%), the United Kingdom (87%), Malta (83%), Spain (75%) and Italy (70%).

Almost three-quarters of the European interviewees, and a majority in each single member state, consider their national identity number, identity card number or passport number as personal information. The lowest percentages – though still representing a majority – are recorded in Malta (53%), France (54%), and Belgium (58%).

More than six Europeans out of the 10 interviewed agree (‘totally’ or ‘tend to’ agree) that the government of their country of residence asks them for more and more personal information (64%).

Member states where most respondents agreed with this statement are Greece (83%), and Germany and Italy (both 76%). Conversely, the lowest numbers of respondents who agree were recorded in Luxembourg (34%) and Malta (39%).

Respondents were also asked in what circumstances police should access and analyse individuals’ personal data to carry out their activities.

Police investigations

A staggering 35% of the Maltese believe that the police should have access to personal data in their ‘general crime prevention activities’ while 32% think that this should only be possible with the authorisation of a judge. 25% think that only specific data within the context of a specific investigation should be available for the police.

The survey shows that the Maltese are slightly keener than other Europeans to allow police to use personal data in their day-to-day activities.

While one-third (33%) of the Europeans surveyed say the police should be able to access personal data for all general crime prevention activities, a somewhat larger proportion (37%) think the police should be allowed to do so only with regard to specific data in connection with a specific investigation, and a quarter (26%) say the authorisation of a judge should be required.

A country-by-country analysis shows that a specific investigation is mentioned by half of the respondents in Estonia (52%) and Finland (50%) compared to a quarter in Spain (24%), Malta (25%) and Romania (27%).

Most mentions of all general crime interventions are found in Romania (41%) and Italy (40%), but also in Spain, Latvia, the UK (37% each) and in Malta (35%). Respondents in Estonia (17%), Lithuania (18%) and Austria (21%) are the least likely to give this response.

The authorisation of a judge is mentioned most often in Cyprus and Slovenia (both 40%,), and least often in Finland (13%) and Italy (18%).