Citizens and Technical Progress

Attitudes to data protection: general attitude to data protection; knowledge of data deserving protection; importance of a data protection law; assumed motives for the federal data protection law of 1977; personal knowledge of data misuse; adequate data protection regulations; recommendations for an improvement of the law; perceived disturbance from storage of personal data by authorities and companies; situations in which the statement of personal conditions was particularly unpleasant; extent of need for information on citizens by the government as well as private enterprise; knowledge about areas in which the data protection law applies; statement of areas in which registration of personal information is considered harmless. 3.

Attitudes to technical progress: interest in questions of technical change; expected advantages or disadvantages from technical changes in personal life; manner of expected changes of life from technology; particularly interesting technology areas; attitudes to technology, progress, computers, automation, government surveillance (scale); assessment of the advantageousness of modern technology in selected areas; attitude to various technical projects and plans, such as e.g. minitel, gene technology, automation, computerization in the office and at home.

Demography: age; sex; marital status; number of children; ages of children (classified); school education; occupation; occupational position; employment; household income; size of household; respondent is head of household; characteristics of head of household; housing situation.