Americans are more likely to be happy giving away their personal data

Every year, the United Kingdom's telecommunications regulator Ofcom releases a report on the state of the international communications market. 2015's report -- which includes data from countries including the US, UK, France, Germany, and Japan -- offers a number of interesting insights, including the decline of fixed phone lines around the world, the relative expense of mobile data in the US, and varying morning smartphone routines around the world.

When asked how much they agreed or disagreed with the statement "I am happy to provide personal information online to companies as long as I get what I want," Americans were most likely to agree strongly. Respondents from Sweden were least likely to agree with this premise, while German and Spanish individuals were also more likely to be suspicious of companies using their personal data. To compare the price of cellphone tariffs in different countries, Ofcom looked at different tiers -- from a super-basic line with only 50 minutes of talk time a month, to a premium package with 500 minutes, 200 texts, and 5GB of 4G data. The report shows that America is clearly the most expensive country to buy a cellphone tariff, even though prices fell 3 percent during 2015. (Ofcom's figures factor in the cost of handsets in these tariffs, amortizing them over a three-year period.)