60% of UAE Consumers threaten to abandon businesses that Pollute by data hoarding

60% of UAE Consumers threaten to abandon businesses that Pollute by data hoarding

Ramzi Itani, Regional Director of Emerging Region at Veritas Technologies.

Veritas Technologies, the leader in secure multi-cloud data management, today announced new research that indicates more than half of UAE consumers (59%) think it’s the responsibility of the organisations that store their information online to delete it when it’s no longer needed. They’re also prepared to vote with their feet if businesses don’t cut back on data-related pollution: 60% said they would stop buying from a company if they knew it was willfully causing environmental damage by failing to control how much unnecessary or unwanted data it is storing.

The research, which polled 13,000 consumers around the world, also found that 52% of UAE consumers said it concerns them that between 1 to 2% of global energy-related pollution emissions are caused by data centres. In response, seven in ten UAE consumers (71%) said they would like to see more focus from organisations on controlling the negative impact of online data storage on the environment. This could include organisations encouraging their customers to close unused or inactive accounts and issuing guidance on deleting obsolete