Over the last several years, there has been a lot of concerns online: hacking, ID theft, sextortion, government surveillance. These privacy and security issues deter online users, and it affects consumers and businesses alike.
Almost half of online consumers have been deterred from the Internet in some way, according to a study by the Department of Commerce. In fact, 30% of the 41,000 household studied say such concerns deter them from at least two Internet activities. These activities are: Banking/financial transactions, buying online, posting on social media, addressing controversial issues. Nearly half of those polled were afraid to bank online. One in every four were afraid to shop online or post on social media. One fifth of those surveyed were afraid of expressing controversial opinions. When asked what was their biggest fear, 63% of them said ID theft. Other fears include bank fraud (45%), corporate data collection (23%), personal data hijacking (22%), government data collection (18%), and personal safety issues (13%). The study suggest the more devices an individual or a household had, the more likely they would be to suffer at least one of these woes. This concerns security analysts because in order for online businesses to survive, much less thrive, there has to be some sort of trust between vendor and consumer. And it doesn’t look like there’s too much trust going on.
But on the bright side, this means the majority of consumers, though it’s a slight majority, don’t let such threats deter their online habits. But we need to do better. There are things you can do to protect yourself, like setting up challenging passwords and be careful of who you let in your social media circles. But there’s also more our government and corporations can do to protect their people. As we hear more stories of fraud, my fear is that these numbers will increase as the years drag on. If that happens, then the only people who will win are the bad guys. Ethical online businesses will go out and consumers will be consumed by fear and cynicism. Do you see why we have got to do better?