Source: Privacy Commissioner
A recent study of New Zealander’s attitudes to privacy shows higher levels of concern among Māori.
The biennial privacy survey of nearly 1200 New Zealanders (including over 320 Māori) was released last week to mark Privacy Week 2024.
Pou Ārahi at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, Shane Heremaia (Ngati Tūwharetoa, Te Arawa), says the survey showed Māori are more concerned about privacy in every way.
“Total concern for individual privacy was higher across Māori respondents, as was the rate who had become more concerned about these issues over the last few years.
“Privacy concerns drive behaviour. A standout example among Māori is that one in three (33%) stated that in the past 12 months they’ve avoided contacting a government department due to privacy concerns. For non-Māori that figure is one in seven (14%).”
Māori are more likely to also have avoided doing a range of other activities due to privacy concerns, including using social media (44% v 32% non-Māori), online shopping (43% to 26%), online dating (41% v 26%), signing up for loyalty cards (36% v 22%) or visiting a particular place due to surveillance concerns (30% v 14%).
“Māori were also more likely to express concern about bias in facial recognition. This included being concerned about it being used without people being told or agreeing to it, its use in retail stores to identify individuals and its use by law enforcement to identify individuals in public spaces.
“Facial recognition is clearly an issue for Māori. This reflects concerns expressed by the Privacy Commissioner about bias and accuracy in the use of facial recognition technology and how he’s worried about what this means for Māori, Pasifika, Indian, and Asian shoppers, especially when the software is not trained on New Zealand’s population.”
The survey also shows that Māori are more concerned about children’s privacy, with 88% wanting the government to pass more legislation that protects children’s privacy, while 80% said that protecting children’s information was a major concern in their life, which is significantly higher than the 59% figure for non-Māori.
One positive development was that 54% of Māori are aware that the Privacy Act gives them rights to a copy of any personal information an organisation holds about them. While this is an increase from 50% in 2022, there is still a lot of room to make people more aware of their privacy rights and what they can do if their rights are breached.
“It’s clear Māori are increasingly aware of the importance of privacy and are wanting greater control of their personal privacy. There’s also greater understanding of the possible negative consequences new technology like facial recognition technology might have and it’s important Māori views regarding privacy are represented and understood”.