6 in 10 call phone tracking to enforce social distancing 'unacceptable'

Six of 10 Americans say they don't want government to use cellphone tracking technology to make sure they are "social distancing."

The Pew Research poll found that while 52% say it's "at least somewhat acceptable for the government to use people's cellphones to track the location of people who have tested positive for COVID-19," 48% are against it.

"There is far less support when Americans are asked about the government using cellphones to track people's locations to ensure they are complying with social distancing recommendations: 62% say this is somewhat or very unacceptable," Pew said.

Just 37% say it is somewhat or very acceptable.

Pew noted the Chinese coronavirus outbreak "has brought privacy and surveillance concerns to the forefront."

The poll found 60% of Americans believe that even if the government tracked locations through cell phones, "it wouldn't make much of a difference in limiting the spread of COVID-19."

Only 16% believe it would help a lot, and another 22% say it might help "a little."

Seven of 10 believe their personal information is less secure than a few years ago, while 24% say the security is about the same.

"A majority of Americans said last year that they were concerned about how companies or the government were using their personal data, but few said they understood what was being done with their information," Pew said.

Now, 79% say they are at least somewhat concerned about how companies are using the data collected about them.

"At the same time, 64% of Americans said they were somewhat or very concerned about government collection of their personal data," Pew said. "Yet relatively few Americans said they understood a great deal what was being done with the data collected about them by companies (6%) or the government (4%)."

About the same number, 70%, believe all or most of what they do online or while using a cell phone is being tracked by advertisers, technology firms or other companies.

The opposition arises at least partly because Americans see more risks than benefits in data collection.

Pew said it found "a majority of Americans said they benefited very little or not at all from the data collected about them by companies (72%) and the government (76%). Large shares also said the potential risks of this kind of data collection outweighed the benefits: 81% said this about data collected by companies and 66% said it about data collected by the government."

Privacy has become a more important consideration in decision-making, they said.

"Six-in-ten Americans (63%) said in 2019 that they knew very little or nothing at all about the laws and regulations currently in place to protect their data privacy; just 3% said they understood a great deal," Pew said.

The poll found 52% had decided not to use a product or service because they were worried about how much personal information would be collected about them.