US Policymakers Must Fully Understand How Online Privacy Fears Impact Economy: NTIA
Nineteen million households in the US have been personally impacted by an online security breach or identity theft, according to survey results recently released by the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA).
Data collected for NTIA in July 2015 by the US Census Bureau surveyed more than 41,000 households with at least one Internet user. Nineteen percent of these households had been affected by a malicious activity during the 12 months prior to the survey.
The most frequently cited concern about online privacy – shared by 63 percent of online households – was identity theft. Credit card or banking fraud (45 percent), data collection by online services (23 percent), loss of control over personal data (22 percent) and data collection by government (18 percent) were other top answers.
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“NTIA’s initial analysis only scratches the surface of this important area, but it is clear policymakers need to develop a better understanding of mistrust in the privacy and security of the Internet and the resulting chilling effects,” Rafi Goldberg, Policy Analyst, Office of Policy Analysis and Development said in a blog post describing the report. “In addition to being a problem of great concern to many Americans, privacy and security issues may reduce economic activity and hamper the free exchange of ideas online.”
Perhaps the most interesting finding was that 45 percent of online households reported that these concerns prevented them from conducting financial transactions or buying goods and services online. Even more troubling, these concerns also kept online users from posting on social networks or expressing opinions on controversial or political issues via the Internet. Thirty percent of respondents refrained from at least two of these activities, according to the report.
This last finding suggests that Internet-connected households are becoming savvier in terms of understanding that private services online are seldom private, and the importance of understanding who owns your data online, but reflects a self-censorship that could be dangerous. Last year a report by the Pew Research Center found that one-third of Americans have changed social media privacy settings, used social media less often, and avoided use of certain terms online in order to protect their information from surveillance.
Source: TheWHIR