Citizens' perceptions of data protection and privacy in Europe

Data protection and privacy gain social importance as technology and data flows play an ever greater role in shaping social structure. Despite this, understanding of public opinion on these issues is conspicuously lacking. This article is a meta-analysis of public opinion surveys on data protection and privacy focussed on EU citizens. The article firstly considers the understanding and awareness of the legal framework for protection as a solid manifestation of the complex concepts of data protection and privacy. This is followed by a consideration of perceptions of privacy and data protection in relation to other social goals, focussing on the most visible of these contexts the debate surrounding privacy, data protection and security. The article then considers how citizens perceive the 'real world' environment in which data processing takes place, before finally considering the public's perception and evaluation of the operation of framework against environment. (C) 2012 Dara Hallinan, Michael Friedewald & Paul McCarthy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.