Consumers are also for the most part willing to share physical data. Only 22 percent of respondents were unwilling to share their height, 24 percent were unwilling to share their weight and 23 percent were unwilling to share a home phone number.

Secure data is data consumers are more reticent to share. These data include income (36 percent are unwilling to share), mobile phone number (38 percent are unwilling to share) and credit card number (40 percent are unwilling to share).

Finally, intimate data covers consumers' attributes and beliefs: sexual preference, ethnicity, religion and political persuasion. Pitney Bowes says this data has a virtual lock and key around it and marketers and their brands should be aware of the sensitivity consumers perceive around these data. Of these intimate data, consumers are most free with their sexual preferences: only 45 percent of consumers are unwilling to share their sexual preferences. Sharing data about ethnicity is taboo for 54 percent of consumers, while 71 percent of consumers are unwilling to share data about their religion. Political persuasion is the most closely held data: Fully 76 percent of consumers are unwilling to share information about their politics.

The percentages do vary somewhat by country. For instance, Kohn notes that Germans are far more willing to share information about their sexual preferences than respondents from the U.K. or U.S. Respondents from France are the most reticent about sharing information about their sexual preferences. The French are also more guarded about information relating to their political leanings, ethnicity or religion than respondents from the other surveyed countries.

Security and Data Privacy Compliance Essential