Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 5-6-2026

Faculty Advisor(s)

Ann Gordon

Abstract

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and large-scale data collection has intensified tensions between commercial innovation and consumer privacy, raising a fundamental democratic question: do Americans understand their data protections–and does this shape their demand for regulation? The EU and U.S. represent two fundamentally opposed approaches to data privacy regulation: the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) treats personal data as a fundamental human right, rooted in post-WWII constitutional protections against state surveillance and authoritarianism, while the U.S. operates through fragmented, sector-specific state laws that treat personal data as a market commodity. This study is the first to empirically investigate the philosophical foundations of contemporary U.S. data privacy attitudes, examining the extent to which Americans have internalized the market-based transactional framing embedded in the U.S. regulatory landscape relative to the EU’s rights-based framework. Using Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel Wave 127 (May 2023) and binary logistic regression, this study identifies the key socioeconomic, political, and attitudinal drivers of data privacy philosophy—measured through whether individuals treat privacy policies as a transactional necessity or a meaningful, rights-based decision—and regulatory preference among U.S. adults. Findings reveal that 71.8% hold a transactional data privacy orientation, driven primarily by demographic vulnerability, digital habituation, and psychological overwhelm. Despite this, 74.2% favor increased regulation of corporate data practices, suggesting that Americans who feel most resigned to data commodification are the most likely to support federal intervention. These findings aim to ground federal privacy policy recommendations in empirical public opinion, contributing the first individual-level empirical evidence of the rights vs. transaction divide that comparative legal scholars have theorized at the institutional level.

Comments

Presented at the Spring 2026 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

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