A quarter of Irish adults pay little attention to how their personal data is used by organisations – but have concerns over the use of children’s data, according to a new survey.

Fewer than one in five people said they pay close attention to how their data is used, with just 7% of 18-24s saying they pay serious attention.

Would you track your child’s whereabouts?RollerCoaster readers have their say – and the results are definitive!

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) published its first public attitudes survey yesterday as it launched its annual report.

It indicated there is a ‘significant level of concern’ about how children’s personal data is being shared and used online, with 77% of respondents reporting being quite/very concerned.

The second highest concern was over personal data being used to create a digital profile of you, which is shared with, traded or sold to others (76%). A further 61% said they were quite or very concerned about the use of artificial intelligence and how it is applied.

There was a slightly lower level of concern about social media and tech companies creating profiles to personalise content, and personal data being used for targeted ads (59% and 58% respectively).

Fewer than one in five people reported paying close attention to how their personal data is used by organisations, with around a quarter admitting to hardly any or no attention at all. The online survey of 1,034 adults was carried out by FleishmanHillard and Empathy Research in May.

It comes as Cybernews researchers have uncovered what they are calling the ‘mother of all breaches’ – a huge collection of 30 databases containing more than 16 billion individual records, including passwords, for government accounts, Apple, Google, Facebook, Telegram and websites.

They say the records were most likely compiled by cybercriminals using malware to steal information and they urge internet users across the globe to change their passwords immediately.