Information Privacy and Trust in Government: A Citizen-Based Perspective from New Zealand

Increasing use of e-government raises issues about the privacy of information provided by citizens to government. This paper explores the experiences and concerns of New Zealanders in relation to information privacy, and the impact of these concerns on the trust they place in government. A series of focus groups were conducted among community groups. The findings reflect a range of attitudes about information privacy and the trustworthiness of government, and center around two major themes: the use of technology and concerns about the competency of and practices of government employees. Most respondents were unaware of their existing protections; preferred face to face communication; had low levels of confidence in the privacy of online communication but made use of it for convenience sake; and had greater confidence in government than in commercial organizations but made distinctions between individual agencies. Breaches of privacy were shown to have a negative impact on trust in government.