Americans don't trust government, tech companies with their data, poll finds

A recent survey shows that the U.S government and tech companies aren’t trusted by Americans when it comes to personal online information.

A study by the Pew Research Center found that 80 percent of people are concerned about government surveillance of their information from phone or online connections, according to the Wall Street Journal. For private companies, over 90 percent of people surveyed believed they weren’t in control of how their information was used.

Pew Research Center reported that Americans’ feelings of lack of privacy come from continued news and information regarding the leaked governmental surveillance documents by Edward Snowden. Despite a very small percentage of people saying they never heard any news about the surveillance programs, 43 percent of people said they heard “a lot” about it while 44 percent said they heard “a little.”

Pew’s study, sampled from over 600 U.S adults ages 18 and over according to the report, also found that most of the people surveyed didn’t feel safe when sharing personal information with a person or company they trusted over social media. Landline phones were still trusted in varying degrees by most of the people surveyed; 67 percent.