Get All Access for $5/mo

98 Percent of College Students Gave Up Their Best Friend's Email for Free Pizza While people say they care about privacy, that's apparently limited to their own.

By Rose Leadem

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Shutterstock

Is your best friend's privacy more important than pizza? Don't be afraid to say no -- you're not alone.

While 60 percent of Americans say they would never feel comfortable sharing their email contacts, throw in a cheesy, greasy pie and that notion disappears. A recent study of 3,108 MIT students found that a whopping 98 percent of college students gave up their best friend's email address when they were promised a free slice of pizza.

Related: 5 Fundamentals for Protecting Your Identity and Your Privacy

But you don't necessarily need pizza in order to get students to cough up their friends' information -- in fact, many needed no incentive at all. The study sampled two groups of students -- an incentivized group and a non-incentivized group. While 98 percent of the incentivized group gave up their friends' contact info for pizza, 94 percent of students from the non-incentivized group also willingly gave up their friends' email addresses despite not being offered free pizza. A cautious 6 percent of students from the non-incentivized group provided fake emails of their friends in order to protect their identities.

Related: 8 Steps to Creating Stronger Passwords

Today, nearly three quarters of people in the U.S. say it's very important to be in control of who has access to their information. This study shows that there's a major disparity between people's beliefs and their actions. The results show that people either overstate how much they care about privacy or they do care but they make rushed decisions online without thinking about future consequences, Christian Catalini, one of the study's researchers told MarketWatch.

Rose Leadem is a freelance writer for Entrepreneur.com. 

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Starting a Business

How to Find the Right Programmers: A Brief Guideline for Startup Founders

For startup founders under a plethora of challenges like timing, investors and changing market demand, it is extremely hard to hire programmers who can deliver.

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

Marketing

Many Brands Risk Being Left Behind By Overlooking These Critical Advertising Steps

Learn how to use smart marketing tools and AI to optimize online advertising and maximize ad spend in today's competitive landscape.