Gauging the unemployed's perceptions of online consent forms

Background: Online users are presented with
consent forms when they create accounts on new
websites. Such forms request consent to collect, store
and process the web user’s personal data. Forms vary,
displaying a range of statements to persuade people to
grant such consent.
Aim: In this paper, we report on a study we carried
out to gauge unemployed users’ opinions of such forms.
Methods: We commenced by reviewing the literature
on consent forms and deriving several statements about
consent forms that unemployed people could either
agree or disagree with. We then used Q-methodology
to gauge agreement with these statements.
Results: Unemployed people care about their data
but feel pressured to consent to giving their data away
when confronted with these kinds of forms.
Conclusions: A redesign of consent forms is
required, because, in their current state, online users –
especially the unemployed – are not granting informed
consent for the collection, storage and processing of
their data.