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Americans Say They Do Not Care About Online Privacy; Their Behaviour Suggests Otherwise
09 Sept 2026
A new Incogni survey finds a striking gap between what Americans say about digital privacy and how they react when access to their phones, messages and location becomes personal.
Nearly half of Americans say they are not particularly concerned about online privacy, yet many become far more protective when the same issue is framed around their phone, private communications or physical location.
A new survey from data privacy company Incogni, involving more than 1,500 US adults, found that 45% of respondents said they were not concerned about online privacy. At the same time, 58% said they would refuse to give a stranger unrestricted access to their unlocked phone for any amount of money.
The contrast highlights a growing challenge for increasingly connected cities: people may feel detached from invisible forms of data collection, while reacting much more strongly when the same information becomes tangible and personal.
The Privacy Paradox Is Becoming More Visible
The phrase “I have nothing to hide” is often used to dismiss concerns around digital privacy. Incogni’s findings suggest that this attitude becomes less convincing when people are asked to imagine someone directly accessing their personal device.
An unlocked smartphone can reveal private conversations, photographs, browsing activity, financial information, contacts and location history. While people may view individual pieces of online data as relatively harmless, those fragments can become much more revealing when combined.
That distinction matters because modern digital services rarely collect only one type of information. Data can accumulate across applications, websites, devices and services over time, creating a much more detailed picture of a person’s routines and relationships.
Why Location Data Matters for Cities
For cities, privacy increasingly extends beyond websites and social media.
Smartphones, transport applications, connected vehicles, public Wi-Fi, mobility platforms and other urban technologies can generate information about where people travel, how frequently they visit particular locations and which services they use.
Location data can be especially sensitive because it can reveal patterns that people would rarely volunteer directly. A person’s movements may indicate where they live and work, the places they regularly visit and the people or organisations with which they interact.
As cities adopt more digital infrastructure, questions around how data is collected, retained and shared are becoming part of urban governance rather than simply personal technology choices.
Privacy Feels Different When Data Becomes Personal
Incogni’s central argument is that online data collection often feels distant.
People may accept tracking because it happens invisibly in the background. The psychological reaction changes when the question becomes more direct: would you allow a stranger to read your messages, browse through your phone or continuously see your live location?
The survey suggests many people who describe themselves as unconcerned about online privacy still maintain strong boundaries around the underlying information.
This gap between stated attitudes and actual behaviour can make public conversations about privacy difficult. Asking whether someone “cares about privacy” may produce a very different response from asking what information they would willingly expose.
Connected Cities Depend on Digital Trust
The issue has wider implications as public and private services become increasingly data-driven.
Digital identity systems, mobility services, smart infrastructure and AI-powered platforms can make cities more efficient and responsive, but their success also depends on public trust.
Residents are more likely to accept data-driven services when they understand what information is being collected, why it is needed and who can access it.
Privacy therefore should not be treated simply as an obstacle to technological innovation. Clear data governance can become part of the infrastructure that allows digital services to expand without eroding public confidence.
Small Data Points Can Create Detailed Profiles
One of the most important privacy risks comes from aggregation.
A single location record, online search or app interaction may reveal relatively little. Combined across weeks or months, however, those records can expose behavioural patterns far beyond what users originally intended to share.
That is why discussions around privacy increasingly focus not only on individual data points but on what can be inferred once multiple datasets are connected.
For residents of increasingly connected cities, understanding that distinction may become an important part of digital literacy.
From “Nothing to Hide” to Informed Choice
Incogni’s survey does not necessarily show that Americans are inconsistent. It may instead show that abstract language fails to capture how people actually understand privacy.
Someone may feel comfortable sharing limited information with an online service while strongly objecting to unrestricted access to the combined result.
The challenge for governments, companies and city authorities is therefore to make data collection understandable enough for people to make meaningful choices.
As urban life becomes increasingly connected, the question may be less about whether people have “something to hide” and more about who should have the right to observe, combine and use information about their everyday lives.
About Incogni
Incogni is a data privacy company focused on helping individuals reduce the amount of personal information held by data brokers and other organisations. The company conducts research into online privacy, data collection and consumer attitudes toward personal information.
