Determinants of consent to personal data surveillance: Experimental evidence from Russia

2026-05-12T14:00:01+03:00

Rapid development of surveillance technologies is one of the most socially important consequences of the digital age. This paper investigates the factors determining consent to surveillance of various types of personal data and contributes to rapidly growing research on citizens’ perceptions of surveillance practices. Relying on a comprehensive survey experiment, we study the effects of data types, the identity of surveillance agents, the transparency of surveillance, its imposition and benefits on participants’ consent to data surveillance. Our findings indicate that data types are associated with different levels of consent. The identity of the surveillance agent also matters, as participants are more inclined to trust this function to a state rather than to non-state entities. Imposition and transparency of surveillance, on the other hand, do not affect consent, while the effect of explicit benefits is surprisingly minimal. Overall, the empirical results indicate that the data type and the identity of the surveillant are pivotal characteristics that shape attitudes to surveillance, with other attributes of surveillance technology being almost irrelevant.

Препринты НИУ ВШЭ

Determinants of consent to personal data surveillance: Experimental evidence from Russia