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Privacy: French people do not trust online storage services

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43% of the French have already used an online storage service at least once, but mistrust remains: 71% do not trust the ability of these services to protect their privacy.
91% of the French would prefer to store their personal digital data at home, compared to 8% at a third-party host.
At a time when almost 100% of French households have adopted digital devices (computers, smartphones, cameras, tablets, etc.), the need to secure the data they contain, which is growing exponentially, is becoming an absolute necessity. How do the French store their photos, videos, music, etc.? Do online storage solutions meet their requirements? Do they trust Cloud operators such as Dropbox, Google, Apple, etc.? Lima commissioned OpinionWay to answer these questions and to provide an accurate picture of French people's data storage behaviors. 

The results of the OpinionWay survey for Lima reveal that only 13% of the French regularly use online storage services. The massive resources invested by operators of such services, both in the technical and marketing fields, have not completely convinced the French. They do not have confidence in these services, which in their view do not offer sufficient protection against data loss, theft, hacking, invasion of privacy and commercial use of personal data. At the same time, the French, who are said to have little awareness of how to manage their digital lives, seem on the contrary to be very aware of the issues involved. They knowingly refuse, rightly or wrongly, to entrust their data to third parties on a massive scale.

43% of the French have tested online storage services... but the confidence is not there

While 43% of the French have already used an online storage service at least once, the results of this survey suggest that they do not trust this type of service. In general, the French do not trust the ability of online storage services to protect their privacy (71%), nor do they have sufficient guarantees against commercial use of their data (69%). In addition, 67% of the French feel that online storage services do not provide sufficient protection against theft and hacking, and 51% feel that online storage services do not provide sufficient protection against the loss of their data. Finally, 76% believe that operators do not permanently delete their data once their account is closed. The Snowden effect has been there...
Among online storage services, Dropbox remains the most popular (21% of French people stating that they have already used its services). Next come Google Drive (17%), Apple's iCloud (15%) exæquo with the services of telephone operators. Microsoft's One Drive (10%), Box (7%) and Amazon Cloud Drive (4%) close the gap.

Key barriers to adoption of online storage services: privacy, business use and location of data

What keeps 60% of the French from using online storage services is first of all the lack of protection of their digital data and privacy. Almost half of the French (47%) cite as a second disadvantage the fact that they fear that their data will be used for commercial purposes. The price (26%) of these services is also a hindrance, as is the multiplication of places where data is stored (22%).
Let's add that 93% of French people using an online storage service do not know where their personal data is "physically" located. One out of two (49%) says they are concerned about this. This figure rises to 60% and 54% among 18-24 year olds and 25-34 year olds respectively, reflecting a higher expectation of the new generation regarding the location of their data.

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The USB flash drive and home storage popular in France

As a result of their first experience of these online services and their lack of confidence, the French choose to store their photos, videos, text documents, etc. in USB sticks or external hard drives (69% of responses versus 47% for telephones, computers and tablets), although they are difficult to access remotely. The phenomenon is even more significant among 25-34 year olds: three quarters of them prefer these media.
At the same time, 91% of the French would prefer to store their personal digital data at home and have it accessible wherever their owner is, rather than at a third party host (8%). Clearly, the French, regardless of age, express a strong desire to keep control of their personal data. Cloud services, regularly used by only 13% of the respondents, do not seem to meet the conditions of security and trust that the French want.

"During our meetings with our backers, or at trade fairs such as the CES, we received many questions about the protection of personal data. We felt a lot of interest in this subject, which is why we wanted to know more about it. explains co-founder and CEO Séverin Marcombes.

The results of this survey are consistent with the findings of a survey conducted in the United States by Pew Research1 earlier this year. These reveal that Americans lack confidence in the ability of their government and private companies to protect the confidentiality of their data. 90% see control over who accesses their private data as essential, but only 50% believe they can actually exercise it. The phenomenon affects the entire planet. Following Edward Snowden's revelations about NSA practices, citizens have become aware of the limits of privacy regulations and rely primarily on themselves to protect their personal data.

"During our meetings with our backers, or at trade fairs such as the CES, we received many questions about the protection of personal data. We felt a lot of interest in this subject, which is why we wanted to know more" explains co-founder and CEO Séverin Marcombes.

The results of this survey are in line with the findings of a survey conducted in the United States by Pew Research. (1) at the beginning of the year. These reveal that Americans lack confidence in the ability of their government and private companies to protect the confidentiality of their data. 90% see control over who accesses their private data as essential, but only 50% believe they can actually exercise it. The phenomenon affects the entire planet. Following Edward Snowden's revelations about NSA practices, citizens have become aware of the limits of privacy regulations and rely primarily on themselves to protect their personal data. 

Survey Methodology :

The survey conducted by OpinionWay on behalf of Lima was carried out on 20 and 21 May 2015 with a sample of 1012 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over. This sample was interviewed online using the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interview) system and was selected using the quota method, based on criteria of gender, age, socio-professional category, urban area and region of residence. OpinionWay reminds us that the results of this survey must be read taking into account the margins of uncertainty: 2 to 3 points at most for a sample of 1,000 respondents.

(1) Quoted by the New York Time : bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/survey-finds-americans-dont-trust-government-and-companies-to-protect-privacy/

About Lima France

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Revealed on Kickstarter in the summer of 2013, Lima designs a case that unifies the memory of all your devices (computers, tablets, smartphones). Lima thus allows you to open any of your devices and always see exactly the same files, without the need to copy, transfer or retrieve them on a cloud platform. No more worries about synchronization and storage space limitations on my devices! Moreover, unlike the Cloud, files are stored at your home, on your own external hard drive.
Lima is the first French project to have exceeded one million dollars raised on the American crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, thanks to more than 12,800 backers. Presented in July 2013, Lima reached its funding goal in just 12 hours, and became the sixth most supported project on the platform at the time in the Technology category. 

meetlima.com

 

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