Study of data from start of pandemic examined changes in privacy and data choices

A crisis can alter one's personal considerations of the benefits and costs related to choices around data and privacy. In a new study, researchers used location data before and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to determine how U.S. consumers reacted. They found that decisions to opt out of privacy declined and conclude that societal considerations might have influenced consumers' choices; ideology and demographics also played a role.

The study was conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, New York University (NYU), Adobe Inc., Peking University, and the University of Virginia. It is published in Management Science.

"Crises influence individuals' choices about privacy, yet there is little research in this area," said Beibei Li, professor of IT and management at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, who coauthored the study.

"We measured consumers' privacy choice by whether they opted out of location sharing; location data became a valuable tool at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate the crisis: Government and health care policymakers used this kind of data for contact tracing, measuring compliance with social distancing efforts, and detecting crowdedness and health risks of hot spots."

Researchers analyzed 22 billion records of intertemporal individual-level mobile location data from 20 U.S. cities from January to April 2020, contrasting consumers' choices to opt out of location data sharing before and after the U.S. government declared a national emergency on March 13, 2020. For each city, they analyzed an average of 1.1 billion location records containing 1.5 million unique locations from a random sample of 150,000 individuals with 70 locations per person per day.

They also compared the magnitude of any change across users with varied levels of societal considerations (measured by consumers' compliance with public health policies and indices of individualism). The study also explored consumers' political ideologies (based on election data) and demographics (e.g., income, gender, race).

Consumers reduced opting out after the pandemic began. This change was more pronounced among individuals with greater societal considerations, even after accounting for personal considerations (e.g., wanting to track virus hot spots on smartphones). The reduction was heterogeneous across ideologies and demographics: Opting out declined more in areas with higher percentages of Democratic, affluent, and Asian populations.

The study's findings have policy and managerial implications, said the authors. Their conclusion that consumers reduce opting out during times of crisis has policy implications pertaining to privacy regulations: Policymakers may want to communicate the societal value of data during these times and may also consider fostering tighter public-private collaborations to establish effective frameworks for data sharing and use.

The findings also have managerial implications for nonprofit and for-profit organizations. During a crisis, firms may choose to adjust their offerings (e.g., adding location-aware services) and data infrastructure. At these times, organizations may also choose to accentuate mutual trust, streamline informed consent and develop crisis preparedness plans.

"Our study not only illustrates the potential societal implications of consumers' privacy choices, but also shows the value of using the latest big location data study impactful business and societal topics," explained Anindya Ghose, professor of technology and marketing at NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, who led the study.

"Both policymakers and managers may effectively leverage our insights to make more informed decisions during crises, while accounting for consumers' personal and societal considerations."

Provided by Carnegie Mellon University