In all the news stories dedicated to the topic of Internet privacy lately, very little consideration has been paid to how consumers actually feel about the risks to their privacy and whether they are willing to surrender any of their privacy in return for benefits such as more convenient online services or protection from hackers who could inflict real harm.
It turns out people want it both ways. They want all of the benefits the Internet brings, yet they also say they don’t want to give up their privacy. And when it comes to how many people take any action to protect their privacy online (i.e., change passwords, etc.) few say they do. Most say they want somebody else to protect their privacy for them (such as government or private industry), yet ironically, the vast majority also indicate they don’t trust institutions to protect their privacy due to a perceived lack of ethics or technical expertise to get the job done.
