77% people in Russia believe that they are being monitored by their devices. 47% think that intelligence and security service is what they need to mind while using gadgets, 39% are afraid of scammers. Meanwhile 20,1% of respondents are sure that there is a total monitoring process going on, i.e. everything gets detected, everything which can be seen, heard and recorded with the help of a smartphone. People under 35 are less worried about this, supposing that these fears are merely paranoid.

Among all the modern gadgets, a smartphone is surely the most functional one – this is a data storage, means of data transfer, camera and mic recorder. That’s why smartphone owners have more reasons to be on their guard than those who worry about smart kettles and TVs. No one is shocked that websites which we visit from computers and smartphones, make browser digital fingerprints, that apps store the history of tracking our locations, know about our preferences. All this threatens with data breaches, annoying advertisement. For example, Facebook has recently announced that the company would study encrypted correspondence in WhatsApp with the help of AI. They promise that the content won’t be unencrypted, but analysts think that depersonalised data can be used for ad targeting.

Considering all the abovementioned, it will be important to determine whom the information stored in the clouds and on devices really belongs to. People are sure that content which they keep on their devices is theirs. 81% of Russian citizens believe that “someone else” should ensure confidentiality of their private data. By that we actually give our consent to having our data reviewed by a third party, including for security purposes. Corporations and services compete for this right with governments.

Here everything is about trust. There are organisations we are ready to trust, there are ones we are not. Someone relies on a famous smartphone developer, someone – on a popular online service or a favourite messenger, someone – on a government.