Study: 80% of Web Surfers Concerned About Online Privacy
According to a recent study by Burst Media, a majority of web users are aware of the fact that a lot of websites and ISPs track, collect, and share information about their online activities. Over 80% of all respondents indicated that they were concerned about online privacy in general, but interestingly, only about half of all respondents under 24 thought that websites collect non-personally identifiable information.
Concern Rises with Age
Only about half of all respondents between 18 and 24 thought that websites were likely to collect non-personally identifiable information, and only a third of 18 to 24 year olds thought that websites were likely to collect personally identifiable data.
70% of older respondent over 55, on the other hand, thought that websites tracked non-personally identifiably information. The study did not find a major differences between how men and women responded to this question.
Exchanging Privacy for Targeted Ads
Burst Media also looked at people's sentiments about targeted advertising. Only about 23% of all users were willing to give up non-personally identifiable information in return for ads that were better targeted at them. Women (26.7%) were clearly more concerned about this than men (19.9%), and older respondents were more likely to disapprove of websites collecting non-identifiable information in return for more relevant ads.
Internet users regularly push back against behavioral advertising, be it Facebook's Beacon, Phorm's deep packet inspection, or the constant undercurrent of concerns about all the personal data that Google now stores in its data centers. Tim Berners-Lee, the 'father of the Internet,' expressed his concerns over this in an interview with the BBC last year. Talking about his data and web history, he said: "It's mine - you can't have it. If you want to use it for something, then you have to negotiate with me." A lot of users clearly share this sentiment, though far too many younger users still seem to be quite unconcerned about it.
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Privacy in the USA is a very weird thing. Most Americans SAY that they care about it and get worked up about it (see Facebook Terms issue this week) but the facts are that the onus is on the individual to protect their privacy.
There are few laws to do so.
Politicians are the worst offenders. They routinely take your data and use it to send direct mail and robo calls with impunity.
See more at my recent post here: http://tinyurl.com/dao6rs
Shaun Dakin
CEO
StopPoliticalCalls.org
very interesting post
thanks a lot
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Thanks for the article ~
I'd be very curious to know how one could actually protect their identity while surfing on the web and interacting on it freely.
I was browsing around http://www.justaskgemalto.com and found some interesting information.
I was wondering if you wouldn't mind writing an article about what the average person can do to protect their digital security. Much appreciated.
What the heck is wrong with that other 20%? What are they thinking?
As a big a concerns as web sites gathering data is, a greater concern is ISPs engaging in the same process. Particularly doing so whether or not they have consent from both parties to the communication.
Systems like Phorm, Nebuad, Experian Hitwise are far far worse than Google in that respect. Every single interaction with the net can be gathered and processed.
In the case of quad play ISPs, that means internet, mobile, TV, and phone data can be used to profile communication users.
In the UK, at present the Government doesn't seem willing to enforce any communication law, intellectual property rights, or data protection legislation. The only option left to online publishers is strong encryption.
Unless communication law/data protection law is upheld, and upheld soon, the UK faces a collapse of confidence in trustworthy communication services.
Online privacy is a big concern. I wonder what is on the mind of this 20%.
I was wondering if you wouldn't mind writing an article about what the average person can do to protect their digital security. Much appreciated.
The reason so many people are concerned about privacy is because when they are asked the question whether they would like to share their information about who they are, it is so universal. There are no controls about how far the information will go. Will it be used once, twice, three times, forever. This is the most daunting conundrum. If things were more transparent, by that I mean easily understood, about who has the information, and their exact intent, then people might be more willing to share. By this I mean, a questionnaire must say I am going to tally the results and put you in a group. It is this group results that I will share with an advertiser. But if it was to say I know who you are and what you have told me and I am going to sell it to everyone that gives me a nickel for it, then that is where the problems are. If people want to collect information, but don't really know what they are going to do with it until they have it, then everyone should have a problem. But, collecting information
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I find it interesting that a large majority of my friends are worried about sharing information online. They could easily block out certain features,but seem unwilling to do so. Does anyone here use the privacy controls on facebook or myspace or any other social networking sites?
s wondering if you wouldn't mind writing an article about what the average person can do to protect their digital security. Much appreciated.
Everything is very open and very clear explanation of issues. was truly information. Your website is very useful. Thanks for sharing.
this is awesome, thank for the info
s wondering if you wouldn't mind writing an article about what the average person can do to protect their digital security. Much appreciated.
The reason so many people are concerned about privacy is because when they are asked the question whether they would like to share their information about who they are, it is so universal. There are no controls about how far the information will go. Will it be used once, twice, three times, forever. This is the most daunting conundrum. If things were more transparent, by that I mean easily understood, about who has the information, and their exact intent, then people might be more willing to share. By this I mean, a questionnaire must say I am going to tally the results and put you in a group. It is this group results that I will share with an advertiser. But if it was to say I know who you are and what you have told me and I am going to sell it to everyone that gives me a nickel for it, then that is where the problems are. If people want to collect information, but don't really know what they are going to do with it until they have it, then everyone should have a problem. But, collecting information
There are no controls about how far the information will go. Will it be used söve once, twice, three times, forever. This is the most daunting conundrum. If things were more transparent, by that I mean easily understood, about who has the information, and their exact intent, then people might be more willing to share. By this I mean, a questionnaire mantolama must say I am going to tally the results and put you in a group. It is this group results that I will ısı yalıtım share with an advertiser. But if it was to say I know who you are and what you have told me and I am going to kartonpiyer sell it to everyone that gives me a nickel for it, then that is where the problems are.
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What the heck is wrong with that other 20%? What are they thinking?