Technology Policy Issues

Americans see a number of economic threats from China, but they are also worried about cyberattacks, Bejing's human rights record, China's impact on the environment and its growing military strength.

For many Americans, cellphones are always present and rarely turned off. This creates new social challenges, as people believe that different public and social settings warrant different sensitivities for civil behavior.

Revelations in September 2013 that the U.S. government had monitored the private communications of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff had strained relations between the two countries.

Most online harassment consists of name-calling or trying to embarrass someone, but there is also the darker side of physical threats: stalking, sexual harassment and being harassed for a long period of time.

Pew Research Center has been studying various dimensions of the issue. Here are some key findings from our public opinion surveys.

Many Americans want control over their personal information and freedom from observation during the activities of their daily lives, but they are not confident that the government agencies or businesses that collect data about them can keep that information private and secure.

Many hope that more transparency and data sharing will help journalists, make officials more accountable and improve decisions. But very few think agencies are doing a great job of providing useful data.