U.S. government “most feared” for online spying and data surveillance

📅 August 31, 2015 - When it comes to online spying and surveillance, people are more afraid of the United States than they are of governments in Russia, Iran, China or North Korea. That's according to new research from secure data centre provider Artmotion, which surveyed over 1000 citizens throughout the United States, Europe, Russia and Australia.

When asked which government's surveillance program they were most afraid of, 38% of respondents highlighted the United States. This was closely followed by Russia, China and finally North Korea. Respondents from Australia, Germany, Russia and the UK all placed the United States at the top of their lists. Out of these regions, Australian citizens were the most fearful of U.S. snooping, with 66% of respondents placing America at the top of their lists. Furthermore, Americans themselves were more afraid of surveillance by their own government than they were the governments of Iran, North Korea or Pakistan.

Generally speaking however, U.S. citizens were far less critical of their own government than the rest of the world. Of those surveyed, only 16% claimed that they were afraid of their country's own internal surveillance programs, with the vast majority of U.S. respondents directing their fears towards China and Russia.

In contrast to this finding, Russian respondents were by far the most likely to fear their own government, with 23% claiming that they were more afraid of internal surveillance than external snooping.

The United Kingdom retained a high level of trust, with only 5% of respondents claiming it was the country they most feared. Governments with the least privacy concerns were listed as Switzerland, Spain, Canada, Italy and France.

Commenting on these findings, Mateo Meier, CEO of Artmotion said, “As this research shows, the recent NSA scandals have done significant damage to the United States' reputation around the world. As a result, both businesses and privacy-conscious individuals are choosing to avoid the use of online services that host their data within the United States. While countries such as China and Russia are increasingly insistent that citizens store their data nationally, independent European countries such as Switzerland still represent a rare safe haven for private information.”

To find out more about information privacy, or the use of Swiss data hosting, visit https://www.artmotion.eu/en-uk/

About Artmotion

Artmotion Ltd Is a privately held data hosting provider in Switzerland, offering state of the art, highly secure server solutions for businesses of all sizes.

The company provides services such as secure, high performance dedicated servers, neutral clouds to safeguard data and private Swiss mail. The data centers offer ultimate privacy, latest technology and highly efficient infrastructure.

Artmotion is serving businesses in 30 countries, with customer base mostly of medium to large international clients, including Fortune 500 companies.