Privacy Concerns, Trust in Government and Attitudes to Identity Cards in the United Kingdom

Abstract

In the present paper, the links between privacy concerns, trust in the Government and compulsion are examined in light of people's attitudes towards Identity Cards in the United Kingdom. A total of 404 respondents from both politically active and student groups were presented with scenarios for the implementation of ID Cards in which the degree of compulsion was varied. Their levels of privacy concern about ID Cards and trust in the Government were also measured. The perceived degree of compulsion, privacy concerns and trust in the Government predicted attitudes to Identity Cards. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between privacy, trust and ID Card attitudes. It was found that the impact of privacy concern on attitudes was moderated by trust, such that amongst respondents with lower privacy concerns, lack of trust moderated this to lead to negative attitudes towards Identity Cards. Implications are discussed.