Appendix D — Online survey evaluation
The survey
The Committee launched an online survey for seniors to give as
many seniors as possible the opportunity to tell the Committee about their
internet use and their concerns, if any, about their cybersafety.
The survey was designed to be as simple to answer as
possible so that even people with low computer literacy would be able to
complete it without difficulty. It was designed using the ‘SurveyMonkey’
website[1]. The ‘SurveyMonkey’
summary of the ‘response per cent’ and ‘response count’ for each question of
the survey is included at the end of this appendix.
Participation in the survey was anonymous. It was designed
to take approximately 10 minutes to complete.
All questions had set answers that respondents could choose
from as well as an optional free text space for some questions.
Launching and advertising the survey
The Committee launched its Australian seniors’ cybersafety
survey online on 30 April 2012.
A media release was put out by the Committee announcing the
launch of the survey and inviting everyone aged 55 and over to complete it. The
survey was advertised in all subsequent Committee media releases during the
next six months.
Information about the survey was included in the fortnightly
advertisement for Parliamentary Committees in The Australian on several
occasions.
The survey was advertised on the Committee’s home page of
its website and Committee members tried to reach seniors who are not online at
home by distributing the survey in hard copy whenever they had the opportunity.
Several seniors organisations and clubs which made
submissions to the Committee’s inquiry notified their members of the online survey
in their member newsletters.
Closing the survey
Initially it was stated on the Committee’s website that the
survey would close on 30 June. However, at that date the survey was still
receiving a steady number of responses so the Committee decided to extend it
for a further four months.
The survey was closed on 9 November 2012 at which time it
had received 504 online responses and a further 32 responses posted to the
secretariat in hard copy.
YOURLifeChoices survey
The Committee received a submission from YOURLifeChoices
which is an Australian-based publisher of a website, enewsletters and online
magazine for people aged 50-75 (submission 38).
YOURLifeChoices told the Committee that it conducted an
online survey of members between December 2011 and February 2012. The survey
asked 39 questions across a range of topics, with 12 questions being directly
relevant to the Committee’s inquiry into the cybersafety of seniors online. The
YOURLifeChoices survey received 2 563 responses—65.5 per cent from females,
38.5 per cent from males and 86 per cent of respondents were aged between 50
and 75.
It must be noted that, in the words of YOURLifeChoices,
their respondents:
…are not confused, isolated seniors afraid to use the
internet. They are active online daily – and keeping up-to-date with new
technology. If anything is holding them back, it is probably access to high
speed broadband.[2]
In several places in the following analysis of the
Committee’s survey, there is some discussion of those responses to those 12
questions from the YOURLifeChoices survey, where relative to the findings of
the Committee’s survey.
Other research
Discussion of responses to the Committee’s survey
The total number of responses to the Committee’s survey was
536.
In the following discussion about the responses, percentages
are mostly used and where a bracketed number follows the percentage, this
number refers to the actual number of responses.
Who completed the survey
Slightly more men than women completed the survey, 54.1 per
cent (276) to 45.9 per cent (234). This contrasts with the YOURLifeChoices
survey which was completed by substantially more women (61.5 per cent to 38.5
per cent).
Just over a quarter of respondents were from NSW (25.5 per
cent) but all States and Territories were represented more-or-less
appropriately for their population size. Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria
contributed 18.8 per cent, 15.7 per cent and 15.3 per cent respectively. The
least number of responses came from the Northern Territory with 1.0 per cent
(5).
Just a handful (6) of respondents identify as Aboriginal or Torres
Strait Islander.
The majority of respondents to the survey live in a
metropolitan area – 59 per cent (301). A further 27.5 per cent (140) live
in regional Australia, with just 12.9 per cent (66) of respondents living
in a rural part of the country and only 0.6 per cent (3) living in ‘remote
Australia’. Three responses from remote areas is not a credible number to be
drawing assumptions from and, therefore, the remote response is not referred to
in all cases where metropolitan/regional/rural is discussed below.
How seniors use the internet
Unsurprisingly, 98.5 per cent of people who completed the
survey, including those who completed it in hard copy, have a computer at home.
Most people are connected to the internet at home, with 92.6 per cent of respondents
‘most frequently’ using the internet at home.
The following table shows the age/gender of the 1.5 per cent
of people who do not have a computer at home. It is notable that 100 per cent
of the two older age groups of women have a computer in their home.
Table 1 Question: Do you have a computer at home?
|
|
Age
|
Total
Number of responses
|
Respondent
has a computer at home
|
(Number)
|
|
Women
|
55-64
|
103
|
97.1 %
|
(100)
|
|
|
65-74
|
90
|
100 %
|
(90)
|
|
|
75 and over
|
41
|
100 %
|
(41)
|
|
Men
|
55-64
|
60
|
98.3 %
|
(59)
|
|
|
65-74
|
144
|
97.6 %
|
(141)
|
|
|
75 and over
|
72
|
98.6 %
|
(71)
|
Source Joint
Select Committee on Cyber-Safety – Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
The survey found that over half of all respondents, 55.8 per
cent, use only a computer to access the internet. However, a substantial number
sometimes use other technologies to access the internet with 22.9 per cent using
mobiles, 20.3 per cent using tablets and 20.1 per cent using smart
phones.
In metropolitan areas, only 52.8 per cent of respondents do
not sometimes use other technologies to access the internet, whereas, both
regional and rural areas were a bit higher with about 59 per cent not using
other technologies, and unsurprisingly, none of the three respondents in remote
areas are using other technologies to access the internet.
Most respondents, 87.3 per cent, use the internet on a daily
basis with 10.1 per cent using it several times a week. About two thirds
of respondents (68.3 per cent) access the internet for 15 hours or more per
week.
ADSL Broadband is used by the majority of respondents with 68.5
per cent using it and 19.8 per cent using wireless technology.
Over a third of respondents (40.1 per cent) have service
problems in their area and more than a quarter (27.9 per cent) experience
problems with their access plan.
Unsurprisingly, people who live in metropolitan areas have
fewer service problems (33.7 per cent) compared to those in regional and rural
areas with 47.1 per cent and 65.6 per cent respectively.
Question 8 asked what seniors are using the internet for and
allowed respondents to choose as many answers as they wished. It found that
banking and paying bills is the predominant reason for using the internet (76.5
per cent), however, other uses are close behind with ‘accessing government
services’ attracting 63.4 per cent; entertainment 58.8 per cent; training
and research 56.9 per cent; shopping 54.5 per cent; and social
networking coming in last (apart from the ‘other’ category) with 41.8 per cent.
A breakdown across the country shows similar responses
across metropolitan / regional / rural areas with the most use being for
‘banking and bills’ in all three areas but an especially high use for this
purpose in regional Australia. However, a completely different picture is shown
in remote areas but this is no doubt due at least in part to the very low
number of respondents and, again, no conclusions can really be drawn from the
responses of just three people.
Table 2 Question: What do you use the internet for?
|
Activity
|
Metropolitan
|
Regional
|
Rural
|
Remote
|
|
Accessing government
services
|
64.8% (195)
|
62.9% (88)
|
60.6% (40)
|
33.3 % (1)
|
|
Banking and bills
|
76.7% (231)
|
84.3% (118)
|
65.2% (43)
|
0.0% (0)
|
|
Entertainment
|
62.5% (188)
|
57.9% (81)
|
42.4% (28)
|
0.0% (0)
|
|
Shopping
|
54.2% (163)
|
55.7% (78)
|
57.6% (38)
|
33.3 % (1)
|
|
Social networking
(Facebook, etc.)
|
42.9% (129)
|
41.4% (58)
|
43.9% (29)
|
33.3 % (1)
|
|
Training and research
|
58.8% (177)
|
59.3% (83)
|
47.0% (31)
|
100.0% (3)
|
|
Other
|
40.9% (123)
|
32.1% (45)
|
37.9% (25)
|
33.3 % (1)
|
Source Joint
Select Committee on Cyber-Safety – Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
The ACMA research, referred to above, also found that:
Activities relating to communications, research and
information, and banking and finance have typically dominated the online
activity profile of Australian internet users …[4]
Most seniors who are online believe that internet access is
now important to the quality of their life. Just 6.5 per cent said that
internet access is not important to the quality of their life. Comments on this
question included:
Keeping in
touch with friends and relatives and the news of the world is important to me.
Online shopping is less so.
I live in an
isolated area with almost no neighbours and because of the distance, rarely go
to towns. Thus internet is often my only contact with the world.
The internet
is extremely important to my quality of life as I have very limited mobility.
Mobile
wireless internet enables me to operate my business from anywhere in Australia.
It’s hard to
imagine life without it now.
We keep in
touch with our children and grandchildren interstate. Keep in touch with
friends. Keep our brains working by playing games etc.
I have an
enquiring mind and always want to know more. So information about places
visited & to be visited is important to me, to keep my mind active.
It is
especially important in keeping track of our investments.
Keeps you in
touch with the world, their news and affairs.
The Committee asked if respondents were aware of friends,
relatives or other contacts aged 55 and over who do not use the internet
(question 19). Only 17.0 per cent of respondents said they do not
know anyone 55 or over who does not use the internet.
Asked the reason why people they know over 55 do not use the
internet two answers dominated the responses: 40.4 per cent are ‘not
interested’ and 35.8 per cent have a ‘lack of skills’.
There is no point in breaking these responses down by the
respondent’s age and gender because we do not know the age or gender of the
people who do not use the internet.
How seniors acquire their online skills
Respondents were asked where they acquired their computer
skills. The question allowed as many answers as applied to be ticked. Almost
all respondents indicated that they learned through a mix of the available
options with 78.2 per cent being primarily ‘self-taught’ and 53.9 per
cent learning at least some of their skills ‘at work’. ‘Computer courses’ and
‘friends and family’ also had significant responses with 35.3 and 33.6 per cent
respectively.
A breakdown of these figures shows that men tend to be ‘self-taught’
more than women and women learn from ‘friends and family’ more than the men. In
both cases, many people in the age group 55-64 have learned at least some of
their computer skills at work.
In all age groups learning by computer courses comes a long
way behind being self-taught or learning from friends or family or at work.
As respondents could chose as many answers as applied, in
the tables below total numbers far exceed the actual number of respondents in each
group.
Table 3 Question: Where did
you acquire your computer skills?
|
|
Age
|
Number
|
Self
taught
|
Friends
or family
|
Work
|
Courses
|
|
Women
|
55-64
|
103
|
77.7% (80)
|
30.1% (31)
|
69.9% (72)
|
40.8% (42)
|
|
|
65-74
|
90
|
75.6% (68)
|
45.6% (41)
|
58.9% (53)
|
44.4% (40)
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
41
|
61.0% (25)
|
63.4% (26)
|
22.0% (9)
|
29.3% (12)
|
|
Men
|
55-64
|
60
|
81.7% (49)
|
21.7% (13)
|
70.0% (42)
|
36.7% (22)
|
|
|
65-74
|
144
|
80.6% (116)
|
26.4% (38)
|
53.5% (77)
|
34.7% (50)
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
72
|
86.1% (62)
|
31.9% (23)
|
31.9% (23)
|
26.4% (19)
|
Source Joint
Select Committee on Cyber-Safety – Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
In the following table slight differences about location and
learning emerge.
In metropolitan areas being self-taught or acquiring
computer skills at work are the two dominant ways of learning. Learning via
‘friends and family’ and ‘courses’ are about half as popular as self-taught and
work.
In regional areas, the percentage of people who are ‘self-taught’
is quite a bit higher than in the other areas and it is far ahead of ‘work’,
‘friends and family’ and courses.
In rural areas ‘self-taught’ is less used than the other
areas but rural seniors are the heaviest users of courses as a method to learn
about the internet and rural seniors are least likely to rely on ‘friends and family’
than other groups.
Table 4 Question: Where did you acquire your computer
skills?
|
Place of learning
|
Metropolitan
|
Regional
|
Rural
|
|
Work
|
59.8% (180)
|
45.7% (64)
|
48.5% (32)
|
|
Self-taught
|
78.1% (235)
|
83.6% (117)
|
71.2% (47)
|
|
Friends and family
|
33.2% (100)
|
38.6% (54)
|
25.8% (17)
|
|
Courses
|
31.2% (94)
|
42.1% (59)
|
48.5% (32)
|
|
Computer club
|
9.3% (28)
|
8.6% (12)
|
1.5% (1)
|
|
Seniors’ kiosks
|
3.0% (9)
|
2.9% (4)
|
0
|
|
Other
|
6.3% (19)
|
3.6% (5)
|
4.5% (3)
|
Source Joint
Select Committee on Cyber-Safety – Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
Asked if they find accessing information and/or conducting
transactions on the internet difficult or frustrating, 71.8 per cent of responding
seniors answered ‘no’. This response was more-or-less consistent across all
regions of the country but when viewed by age and gender it is apparent that
women of all age groups find accessing information and/or conducting
transactions on the internet more difficult and/or frustrating than men in the
same age group. For women 75 and over, the ‘yes’ response is nearly as high as
the ‘no’ response. There is a definite increase in frustration and/or
difficulty with age for both men and women.
Table 5 Question: Do you find using
the internet difficult or frustrating?
|
|
Age
|
Yes
|
No
|
|
Women
|
55-64
|
23.3%
|
76.7%
|
|
|
65-74
|
37.8%
|
62.2%
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
48.8%
|
52.2%
|
|
Men
|
55-64
|
11.7%
|
88.3%
|
|
|
65-74
|
27.8%
|
72.2%
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
31.9%
|
68.1%
|
Source Joint
Select Committee on Cyber-Safety – Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
Comments were sought about what would help to make accessing
information less difficult or frustrating and 140 people entered a range of
comments, a few of which follow:
I often wish
they do not assume the user is completely computer literate.
The sites I
experience most difficulty with are government sites. Since they appear to have
a high volume of traffic which invariably exclude access, I feel the government
could/should make extra provisions for this.
Many websites
have very complex paths just to get into.
I think that seniors
generally need some centre where they can access information on how to use it,
not to the extent of training courses, but the sort of thing where you can go
and type in a question and receive a simple explanation. For instance, a
question I recently got answered through TechTalkRadio was what is an Android?
What is an App? etc.
Some websites
seem to be more difficult to use than they need to be. Maybe those that set
them up don't use them.
Community
training access in small groups to learn from each other.
More basic
knowledge.
Some form of
standardisation of terminology across sites would help, e.g. do the terms pin,
password, access number, mean the same thing? And many sites seem just to go
around in circles. I think those who design some of the sites are too close to
their own work and do not realise that many people do not understand the
technical terms that they use.
Better web
page design. Response from so-called "help desks".
Plain English
and developers understanding the needs and limitations of Seniors.
A help line
for basic questions/problems.
Some sites are
difficult to navigate. Worst problem is use of unfamiliar language.
How safe do seniors feel when online?
Asked if they are worried about online safety risks, 67.0 per cent,
answered that they are ‘aware but not worried’. However, 25.7 per cent answered
that they are ‘aware and very worried’.
A similar question in the YOURLifeChoices survey asked if
people have enough information to protect themselves from being scammed and the
response found that 77 per cent believe that they do have sufficient
information to protect themselves from being scammed.
The survey found that 95.5 per cent of respondents have
installed security systems and anti-virus software on their computers. Furthermore,
87.2 per cent regularly update their internet security. The following
table breaks these percentages down by gender and age group.
Table 6 Question: Are you
worried about online safety?
|
|
Age
|
Number
|
Aware
but not worried
|
Aware
and very worried
|
Have
installed anti-virus software
|
Update
internet security regularly
|
|
Women
|
55-64
|
103
|
62.1%
|
32.0%
|
96.1%
|
83.5%
|
|
|
65-74
|
90
|
60.0%
|
33.3%
|
96.7%
|
87.8%
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
41
|
61.0%
|
26.8%
|
92.7%
|
75.6%
|
|
Men
|
55-64
|
60
|
75.0%
|
16.7%
|
95.0%
|
93.3%
|
|
|
65-74
|
144
|
68.1%
|
26.4%
|
97.9%
|
93.1%
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
72
|
70.8%
|
16.7%
|
91.7%
|
83.3%
|
Source Joint
Select Committee on Cyber-Safety – Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
Table 6 above indicates that women are more worried about
online safety than men in all age groups but they are protecting themselves
with anti-virus software in about the same percentages as men across all age
groups. However, women are slightly less vigilant about updating their internet
security regularly than men.
A look at these responses in the context of the regions of
Australia shows that rural and regional Australians feel less confident with
about 60 per cent in both groups responding that they are ‘aware but not
worried’ against 70 per cent answering ‘aware but not worried’ from those living
in metropolitan areas.
Asked if password requirements are a problem, 73.8 per cent
of respondents do not find password requirements to be a problem, leaving over
a quarter at 26.2 per cent who do find password requirements to be a
problem. The group who find password requirements a problem the most is the
‘women 75 and over’ group with 34.1 per cent answering ‘yes’. The next highest
is the ‘men 55-64’ group answering ‘yes’ 28.3 per cent. All other groups ranged
between 24.4 and 26.4 per cent.
Again, looking at these responses in the context of the
country’s regions there is almost no difference between those living in
metropolitan, rural or regional areas, with about 7.3-7.4 per cent in each
group answering ‘no’ to finding password requirements to be a problem.
Scams and internet fraud
Question 16 asked if the respondent has been personally
affected by e-mail scams, identity theft or other internet related fraud and
75.3 per cent responded that they had not, leaving 24.7 per cent (131) who have
been personally affected by scams or internet related fraud.
Looked at across the regions of Australia, metropolitan and
regional areas were the same with 76.4 per cent of respondents saying they have
not been personally affected by scams, and in rural areas the ‘no’ response
dropped to 66.7 per cent.
Asked about the ‘type’ of scams or fraud experienced it
emerges that ‘Phishing: for example donations, inheritance, banking scams and
lottery scams’ is the scam which most people have experienced, with 73.8 per
cent responding in the affirmative. This was the same for all regions of
Australia. However, the second highest type of scam, ‘malicious software
installed on computer’ was particularly high in rural Australia with 42.9 per
cent as compared to 29.4 per cent in metropolitan areas and 31.3 per cent
in regional areas.
The following table breaks the responses to these questions
down by age and gender. The figures confirm evidence that the Committee heard
during its inquiry that it is men in the 50-70 age group who are more
vulnerable to internet fraud than women or older men. It is also interesting to
note that men have been caught up in ‘romance or dating’ scams twice as often
as the women in all age groups.
Table 7 Question: Have you been
affected by e-mail scams, identity theft or fraud?
|
|
Age
|
Number
|
Yes
|
Phishing
scams
|
Malicious
software
|
Romance
or dating
|
|
Women
|
55-64
|
103
|
18.4%
|
77.8%
|
27.8%
|
11.1%
|
|
|
65-74
|
90
|
22.2%
|
89.5%
|
26.3%
|
10.5%
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
41
|
22.0%
|
44.4%
|
22.2%
|
11.1%
|
|
Men
|
55-64
|
60
|
33.3%
|
88.9%
|
44.4%
|
22.2%
|
|
|
65-74
|
144
|
33.3%
|
70.2%
|
31.9%
|
23.4%
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
72
|
16.7%
|
58.3%
|
33.3%
|
25.0%
|
Source Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety
– Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
The YOURLifeChoices survey asked if respondents had been the
target of a scam and reported that 53.4 per cent believed that they had been
the target of a scam but the follow up question “did you lose money or time due
to the scam” found that only 14.3 per cent responded affirmatively. This figure
is considerably less than that of the response to the Committee’s survey which
can be attributed to the wording. Some people might consider they have been
‘affected’ even without the loss of time or money, possibly because they found
it stressful to be targeted in this way.
YOURLifeChoices pointed out that even though ‘only’ 14 per
cent of those targeted by scams lost money, confirming that most older internet
users know enough to prevent themselves from being scammed, 14 per cent of those
targeted is far too high ‘considering that cybercrime robs individuals of their
time, damages their emotional wellbeing and costs them, in many cases,
significant amounts of money’.[5]
Question 18 asked if those affected by scams or fraud had
reported the incident to a regulator or the police and found that just over
half had not, with 43.3 per cent saying that they reported the incident. The
same question was asked in the YOURLifeChoices survey and received a similar
response with 42.3 per cent saying that they reported the scam or fraud.
The YOURLifeChoices survey also asked why respondents had
not reported scams or fraud and their breakdown of anecdotal responses found
that of 701 responses, 153 people handled the matter themselves; 100 did not
know how to report it; 75 felt it was not worth reporting; 65 said ‘other’ and
234 did not give a relevant answer. Therefore, in this instance about 15 per
cent of people who were the target of a scam but did not report it, did not do
so because they did not know how to report it.
The Committee also asked for comments at question 18 and
received 60, several of which follow:
The police
told me there was nothing they could do and to just ignore the problems. So I
did not report the next incidences. But I change password and other details on
my computer.
I reported it
to one of the Microsoft tech agents. The trouble is that us oldies usually
can’t afford security agents you pay for, and can inadvertently not have enough
security by accessing their own freeware (which is what had happened to me). It
cost me $150 to have my computer cleaned up. Admittedly, this is the only time
in the last 14 years, and I lost no other money. … Most of us just don’t
understand all the different terms fully enough to avoid all the pitfalls.
I reported the
scam to Hotmail and they automatically closed my account with the consequence I
lost all my contact details. Very frustrating. No help was offered.
Wouldn't know
to whom to report. Usually, police are not interested and they always claimed
that they are too busy!
Seniors’ perception of government involvement
Question 21 asked if respondents are comfortable about
accessing government information and services online—89.5 per cent answered ‘yes’
with only 10.5 per cent answering ‘no’. This figure was the same
within one percentage point in all areas (excluding ‘remote’ for reasons
previously explained).
As the table below shows, those in the older age groups are
slightly less comfortable about accessing government information and services
online.
Table 8 Question: Level of
comfort accessing Government information/services online
|
|
Age
|
Yes
|
Number
|
No
|
Number
|
|
Women
|
55-64
|
94.1%
|
96
|
5.9%
|
6
|
|
|
65-74
|
88.8%
|
79
|
11.2%
|
10
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
75.6%
|
31
|
24.4%
|
10
|
|
Men
|
55-64
|
90.0%
|
54
|
10.0%
|
6
|
|
|
65-74
|
92.4%
|
133
|
7.6%
|
11
|
|
|
75 and
over
|
84.5%
|
60
|
15.5%
|
11
|
Source Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety
– Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
The same question also asked if the availability of ‘telephone
or over the counter advice’ is important to the respondent and 82.4 per cent
said that it is, with 17.6 per cent answering ‘no’. Those percentages were
fairly consistent with all age groups and both genders with the exception of
‘males 55-64 years of age’. Only 68.4 per cent (39) of this group answered
‘yes’ while 31.6 per cent (18) responded that the availability of telephone or
over the counter advice is not important to them. Again, all areas were within
one per cent of the average.
Approximately one third of the total number of respondents
made a comment here (177). Unsurprisingly, most comments are in defence of the
availability of telephone or over-the-counter advice. A few follow:
Increasing use
of automated services when phoning government departments is extremely frustrating
and annoying.
Personal
contact is very important and should never be undervalued.
Telephone and
over the counter advice is essential as (a) fall back where online services are
incomplete and (b) where personal circumstances require more specific
information.
I find a
personal response to questions much more satisfying and generally only needs
one call rather than going back and forth on computer.
I would be
very comfortable accessing Government services online - if only I could. But
apparently it is the volume of use that has consistently blocked my access.
I prefer to
speak with a real person, computer is totally inflexible and lacks one on one
understanding.
I would use
the phone in favour of the internet if there was not such a long waiting time
for most of these services. Generally I find the internet quicker and have not
had problems with it, but I prefer to talk to a warm body!
Education about cybersafety and regulation
Of those who answered question 23 (516), 74.8 per cent
believe that a multi-media campaign about cybersafety targeting seniors is
required; 86 per cent believe that communication technology producers/vendors
should be required to provide cybersafety advice at point of sale; and 98.3 per
cent of respondents believe that businesses and online service providers should
be required to meet standards for the privacy and security of user data. These
responses were consistent across the age and gender groups with just slight
variations. There was some difference between the locations, with metropolitan
and rural having similar responses but regional Australia having a higher ‘yes’
response in each case, as the following table demonstrates:
Table 9 Questions on Education and regulation
|
|
Metropolitan
|
Regional
|
Rural
|
|
Question
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
Yes
|
No
|
|
Is a multi-media campaign about cybersafety targeting seniors
required?
|
72.8%
|
27.2%
|
79.3%
|
20.7%
|
75.8%
|
24.2%
|
|
Should communication technology producers/ vendors be required to
provide cybersafety advice at point of sale?
|
85.0%
|
15.0%
|
89.3%
|
10.7%
|
86.4%
|
13.6%
|
|
Should businesses and online service providers be required to meet
standards for the privacy and security of user data?
|
98.3%
|
1.7%
|
99.3%
|
0.7%
|
97.0%
|
3.0%
|
Source Joint
Select Committee on Cyber-Safety – Australian Seniors’ cybersafety survey
Finally, question 24 asked ‘how can government better
protect consumers, and help them protect themselves online’. There were 328
responses to this and many of these responses have been used to inform the
appropriate report chapter. Below is a small selection of comments:
Raise
awareness. Maybe require all internet ready hardware sold in Australia to
include a one page summary of security "dos and don'ts".
Require a
mandatory Computer Driver's Licence when you buy a new computer such as exists
in the EU.
Give them
knowledge, via classes or online. Reliable knowledge (not just
scare-mongering), on how to install free protective software, to update it, run
it etc. plus other practical ways to protect themselves - keep it simple! How
to do simple computer housekeeping, to maintain computer health, backup files
etc.
Provide user
friendly information that is easily accessible.
Education and
easy access to training, eg TAFE, or someone coming to clubs.
Do not assume
that protecting consumers is a one-off project. Education and information
directed at the whole community (not just seniors) should be an on-going
activity. Threats change, technology changes, people change. The government
needs to treat online safety in the same way as any other social issue such as
road safety, health, consumer affairs, finance/banking and building codes.
Restrictions
do not seem to work with cyber technology, so it seems that education, clear,
simple and targeting everyone, is needed.
Certainly not
a major television and press campaign. Use existing services like pension
updates and material already sent to seniors.
Governments
should stay completely out of this area and leave it to the market.
More media
info could be useful & for close family members to talk to their more
elderly rellies.
Require
hardware be sold with antivirus software included, not an optional add-on
(potentially not added-on by the unwary), or at least an opening window/pop-up
warning if there is no security system (or has not been updated for some time)
Prosecute the
scammers and give hefty penalties - not fines which they will never pay.
Practical
education resourcing instead of mountains of pamphlets, advertisements and
talk. Give the seniors a "voucher" to spend on computer education.
It really is
up to the individual to be aware of pitfalls and scams. … Might be older but
still capable of thinking for myself and keeping watch.
Concluding comments
No hard-and-fast conclusions can be drawn from only 536
responses to a nationwide survey of people aged 55 and over. However, the
Committee believes that the online survey was a worthwhile exercise because the
results have provided some evidence of trends regarding how seniors use the internet
including: where they most often use the internet; for what purposes; how often
they use it; and what their experiences have been with the technology, service
providers, education opportunities and scams. Results have also provided some
insight into the differences between metropolitan, regional and rural users as
well as some interesting differences between age groups.
Unfortunately, the survey attracted very few responses from
seniors who either do not use the internet, or who may use it a little but are
not confident enough to complete an online survey. However, that cohort of
seniors was well represented in this inquiry by the many organisations and
individuals who made submissions and gave evidence to the Committee in person—as
discussed in the body of this report.
In various places throughout this report, the results from
the survey have been used to inform and/or complement reporting on the evidence
the Committee gathered over the course of its inquiry.
Finally, the Committee would like to thank everyone who took
the time to complete the survey.