Survey Exposes Alarming , Knowledge Gap Among Americans , on Online Privacy.<br />'The New York Times' reports that most Americans <br />struggled to answer a series of true-or-false questions <br />about how their devices and online services track them.<br />The survey by the Annenberg School for Communication <br />at the University of Pennsylvania tested people's <br />knowledge of how apps, websites and devices collect data.<br />That data includes<br />health information, TV-viewing<br />habits and doorbell camera videos. .<br />77% of respondents reportedly got nine <br />or fewer of the 17 true-or-false questions <br />right, receiving a failing grade. .<br />Just one respondent managed to answer 16 <br />of the questions correctly, while no one was <br />able to answer all of the questions correctly.<br />'NYT' reports that the results of the survey expose a wide knowledge gap among Americans as the Federal Trade Commission prepares to curb "commercial surveillance.".<br />The "notice and consent" approach allows online services <br />to collect, use, retain, share and sell a vast amount <br />of consumer data, provided users consent to it. .<br />The recent report adds to a growing number <br />of studies that suggest the notice-and-consent <br />approach has become obsolete.<br />According to regulators and researchers alike, apps and <br />sites often use long and sometimes confusing privacy <br />policies to trick people into agreeing to be tracked. .<br />Consent requires that people have <br />knowledge about commercial data-<br />extraction practices as well as a belief <br />they can do something about them. <br />Americans have neither, The Annenberg School report, via 'The New York Times'
