With privacy, customer actions lag behind their words

GlobeTechnology is reporting on a study recenly conducted on the privacy attitudes and privacy-protecting actions of US consumers. It is eye-opening, but most who work in this area know that consumers regularly talk about privacy fears, but rarely act with their privacy interests in mind.

Security, but only if it's convenient: "

U.S. consumers may express fear of identity theft, but they continue to offer too much personal information over the telephone and the Internet, a survey says.

Consumers continue to repeat the mistakes that resulted in nearly 10 million identity theft victims in the United States last year as reported by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The 2004 Identity Management Survey, commissioned by Texas-based Electronic Data Systems Corp. and the International Association of Privacy Professionals, based in Maine, found that consumers are not taking enough security precautions to protect themselves despite repeated warnings of identity theft.

According to the survey, more than 70 per cent of consumers are too ready to share information such as their names, addresses, postal codes, phone numbers, account numbers or give the answer to a security question to an unsolicited call or e-mail...."