Privacy Concerns Of Americans Highlighted In New Pew Study

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Nine in 10 US adults believe that consumers have lost control over how their personal information is collected and used by companies, and 80 percent believe that Americans are right to be concerned over the government’s monitoring of phone calls and online communications, the Pew Research Center reported on Wednesday.
In their new report, Public Perceptions of Privacy and Security in the Post-Snowden Era, Pew conducted a survey of American adults over the age of 18 and found that 91 percent “agree” or “strongly agree” that they have lost control over how businesses collect and use their personal information, and 88 percent believed that it would be very difficult to remove inaccurate information online.
Eighty percent of social media users said that they are concerned that advertisers or other third parties can access the information they share using those websites, while 70 percent of them said that they are at least somewhat concerned that government officials are accessing the data post on social networks without their knowledge.
However, as Grant Gross of PC World explained, “the survey seemed to show conflicted views from Internet users on privacy… A solid majority of the people responding to the survey – 64 percent – said they believe the US government should more heavily regulate advertisers and other businesses as a way to protect privacy,” but 55 percent were willing to share some information about themselves with companies to avoid paying for online services.
“Some 81 percent said they don’t feel secure using social networking sites when they want to share private information,” added Associated Press Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay. “More than half of respondents are insecure emailing or texting private details, such as health issues. And 80 percent of those who use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are concerned about advertisers and businesses accessing the information they share on the sites.”
The Pew study also revealed that 68 percent of responders said they felt insecure using chat or instant messages to share private information, 58 percent were insecure sending private info via text messages, and 57 percent were insecure sending private information via email. Furthermore, 46 percent were “not very” or “not at all secure” sharing personal information over cell phones, compared to 31 percent with landline phones.
The survey also discovered that the majority of people want to do more to protect their privacy, but few believe it is possible to remain completely anonymous online. Sixty-one percent said that they would “like to do more” to protect the privacy of their personal information online, while just 37 percent believed that they “already do enough.” Less than one-fourth (24 percent) of adults agreed or strongly agreed that it was easy to stay anonymous online.
The findings indicate that “there is both widespread concern about government surveillance among the American public and a lack of confidence in the security of core communications channels,” Mary Madden, senior researcher at Pew’s Internet Project, told Gross. “At the same time, there’s an overwhelming sense that consumers have lost control over the way their personal information is collected and used by companies.”
“For a long time, people thought ‘Well, I have nothing to hide.’ But now they know that’s not in fact true,” Sara Kiesler, a professor of human-computer interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, added in an interview with USA Today’s Elizabeth Weise. “You do have things you want to hide. Whether it’s your credit card information or what prescription drugs you take or your nephew’s jail terms. People don’t want their lives to be an open book.”
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