Privacy Perceptions in India and the United States: An Interview Study

Periodic privacy studies are conducted in the United States; however, very little information is available about privacy in India. As US companies are major clients of Indian outsourcing busi- nesses, US businesses must rely on Indian companies to protect their personal information. To understand the privacy perceptions, aware- ness and concerns among people in India and in the US, we conducted an exploratory study in summer 2004. We used the \mental model" approach to conduct and analyze one-on-one interviews with 57 sub- jects in the US and India. Our analysis suggests that Indians and Americans have difiering views or difierent levels of concern about privacy, and that Americans are more aware of privacy issues raised by new technologies.