Context
The ICO has published a blog with some interesting facts and figures in it, gathered from research conducted for the ICO by Savanta amongst 2,170 members of the UK public.
Key points to note and next actions
The research revealed that:
- 29% of UK adults don’t know how to wipe their personal information from an old device or tech product;
- 27% of UK adults are planning to treat themselves to a new device this Christmas;
- the average Brit has three unused devices sitting at home;
- 75% of people have held onto at least one old device, with 20% of those having done so because they are worried about their personal information;
- 71% agree that erasing your personal information is important, but 24% believe that it is too difficult;
- 84% would make sure they have erased all their personal information from a device before they dispose of it;
- young people are the least concerned about their personal information, with 14% of people aged 18-34 admitted saying that they would not wipe their device at all, compared to only 4% of people over the age of 55; and
- 21% of young people do not think it is important to wipe their personal information, while almost a quarter (23%) do not have concerns about what might happen to their data.
The ICO has plenty of practical advice for the public on protecting their personal data online and when using devices. Specifically, it has guidance on deleting your data from different devices, and guidance on what to do if you want to stop using a smart device. One of the benefits of taking the time to delete your data is that you might be able to safely sell some of your tech and electricals. Just make sure that you follow Recycle Your Electricals guidance to destroy any data on your devices. And if the tech and devices are broken, anything with a plug, cable or battery should never be binned and should always be reused or recycled. To find your nearest recycling points – search recycle your electricals where you will find over 27,000 recycling points across the UK.