(Shirleen Guerra, The Center Square) One-third of Americans have admitted to skipping reading “terms of service agreements” when using apps and other online services, leading to broader concerns over data privacy and user awareness.
This trend is seen in a survey by NordVPN showing that American respondents scored 63% on the national privacy test, which measures digital habits, digital privacy awareness, and digital risk tolerance.
“While online debates about what holds greater value–data, oil, or land–continue, the answer is clear in the cybersecurity field: data,” Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert at NordVPN, said.
“Unlike physical assets, personal data can be copied, stolen, damaged, or sold without leaving any visible traces, posing serious financial and reputational risks. And apps are often the main channel through which this sensitive personal information is lost, due to unnoticed permissions, missed updates, malicious software, and unauthorized data sharing,” continued Warmenhoven.
The terms and service agreements generally appear before users gain access to various apps and are designed to inform users about how their data will be collected, used and shared.
The survey stated that while Americans have the best “digital risk tolerance,” they may need to be “more mindful of sharing their data with apps via permissions.” According to the results, Americans share more information than necessary.
According to data from the National Privacy Test, 27% of Americans paid no attention to apps’ privacy policies in 2024, which is the very agreement that outlines how apps like TikTok can collect and use data.
The lack of awareness only feeds into the larger discussion over the risks associated with sharing personal data, especially with apps that are tied to foreign governments.
The issue continues to gain attention nationwide in light of the recent TikTok ban in the United States.
The U.S. government argues that the platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, could be forced to share user data with the Chinese government, posing national security risks.
These concerns led to the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a federal law banning the platform unless sold. Although the app was granted a 75-day reprieve from the president’s executive order, the highlighted risks remain.
The Federal Trade Commission is tasked with consumer privacy and data security across several industries and allocates a portion of its annual budget to enforcement and education over data privacy.
According to documents, the FTC requested a 20% increase for its 2025 budget, bringing the requested total to $535 million and 1,443 full-time equivalent positions.
Ten of those positions are in the Bureau of Consumer Protection, which supports the “increasingly complex consumer protection investigations, including privacy and data security issues.”
