NordVPN has crunched the numbers and found that in the U.S. it would take an average of 47 hours every month to read the privacy policies of the 20 most-visited websites. That’s roughly the equivalent of five workdays. According to Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert with NordVPN, “a minimum-wage worker in the U.S. would earn around $338.14 during that time.”
How long would it take to actually read all those privacy policies?
Answer: More than one work week per month.
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We’ve all done it — you’re signing up for an account or service online and you’re prompted to read the privacy policy before you can get what you want, but the policy is so damn long you just click “accept” without actually reading it. But how long would it take if you actually took the time to read all those policies?
NordVPN has crunched the numbers and found that in the U.S. it would take an average of 47 hours every month to read the privacy policies of the 20 most-visited websites. That’s roughly the equivalent of five workdays. According to Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert with NordVPN, “a minimum-wage worker in the U.S. would earn around $338.14 during that time.”
These policies average about 6,938 words and a 29-minute reading time, making the U.S. the country with the sixth longest privacy policies. Germany takes first place with an average of 10,485 words and 44 minutes in reading time. Rounding out the top five are the U.K., France, Poland and Italy, respectively. Warmenhoven noted that this is likely due to GDPR regulations in Europe and the U.K. requiring more details about consumer privacy and rights.
NordVPN has crunched the numbers and found that in the U.S. it would take an average of 47 hours every month to read the privacy policies of the 20 most-visited websites. That’s roughly the equivalent of five workdays. According to Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity expert with NordVPN, “a minimum-wage worker in the U.S. would earn around $338.14 during that time.”
