One of Oakland Privacy’s newer members created, posted and analyzed an online survey of privacy habits amongst those predisposed to have an interest in online privacy:
An anonymous, thirteen–question online survey was conducted over two days on Nov. 2–3, 2017. 328 people responded. The survey questions were written by @ThatPrivacyGuy, the creator of one of the best sites objectively evaluating Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), ThatOnePrivacySite. Invitations to participate were posted on TOPS.net and two Reddit forums focusing on privacy rights, r/Privacy (Dedicated to the intersection of technology, privacy and freedom in the digital world) & r/PrivacyToolsIO (PrivacyTools.IO provides knowledge and tools to protect your privacy against global mass surveillance). Respondents were self–selecting, not random.
Among the more interesting findings:
- More than 50% use PGP or a variant (Pretty Good Privacy, an email encryption methodology)
- 28% use a VPN (Virtual Private Network)
- By a five to one margin, they use Firefox over Chrome, and essentially no one uses Internet Explorer.