A majority of Americans don’t want the U.S. government to be able to monitor Internet searches—but they don’t want search engines storing their search data either, according to a phone survey by the University of Connecticut.
The university’s Center for Survey Research polled 800 adults between January 31 and February 5, after news broke of the Justice Department’s attempt to compel Google to provide anonymous search data.
The survey revealed that 60% of respondents oppose the notion that search engines should store records of their search activities, while 65% oppose giving the government access to those records.
While half of those polled said search engines should not turn over data to government officials, a more detailed look reveals that the resistance breaks along party lines. Sixty-seven percent of Democrats opposed opening those files to officials, but only 30% of Republicans said the same.
Only 5% of respondents said they are “extremely confident” that the search activities will remain private. Twenty-one percent described themselves as “not at all confident”.
