Australians are among the world's least-forgiving customers when it comes to breaches of privacy, a survey has found.
Unisys's latest security report shows 85 per cent of Australians say they would stop dealing with a company or government agency online if it let an unauthorised party access their personal details.
It was the highest result in the 12 countries studied.
Almost two in three Australians (64 per cent) also say they would try to publicly expose such a failing, either through the media or on websites; an anger matched only by Americans.
However, fewer than half of Australians (47 per cent) say they would take legal action in the event of a privacy breach.
The Netherlands was the most laid back of the countries survey, with more than three in 10 people saying they would keep dealing with a business online even if it allowed their private information to be accessed without permission.
Only 23 per cent of Dutch say they would bother taking legal action.
Unisys's Asia-Pacific security director, John Kendall, said yesterday the results were a warning to Australian governments in particular, which are trying to cut costs by providing more services online.
"Governments spend billions of dollars of public money to build online service-delivery channels. If citizens refuse to use the online services because they doubt the security of their information, e-government initiatives such as online health, taxation and employment services may be crippled."
He said past surveys showed most Australians had high levels of trust in government agencies, but there were "no second chances".
Last financial year, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner received more than 1200 formal complaints about privacy breaches.
The top-three sectors complained about were finance companies, federal government agencies, and organisations that collected credit and tenancy data.
The Australian section of Unisys's study was carried out by Newspoll, which surveyed 1205 adults nationwide.
.gif)
