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Privacy Fears Deterring Almost Half of American Households From Online Shopping (bbc.com)

Posted by msmash on from the concern-over-privacy dept.

Many Americans are growing increasingly concerned about privacy and security. According to a survey, almost half of American households with at least one Internet user have been deterred from online activity recently. The online activity includes doing online transactions, banking, and posting things on social media, said the survey of 41,000 households by a Department of Commerce agency. BBC reports: When respondents were asked what concerned them the most about online privacy and security, 63% said identity theft. The respondents, who were allowed to give multiple answers, also cited credit card or banking fraud (45%), data collection by online services (23%), loss of control over personal data (22%) and data collection by the government (18%); 13% also said they were concerned about threats to personal safety. The data suggested 19% of US online households had been affected by an online security breach in the previous year. The NTIA said this represented about 19 million American households.

38 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. RL shops can spy on you too by NotInHere · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They can simply do open WLANs which the phones log in to or detect you when you don't pay with cash. And one thing almost nobody hides when they go to a shop: their face. Camera face tracking technology is almost free these days, the shops can monitor you almost as good as online shops can.

    1. Re:RL shops can spy on you too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I doubt most places would bother. I owned and ran a cafe for a while and to be honest we were up to out necks in work and barely making enough to survive, so we had neither the time nor inclination for messing around with spy tech and wireless logs.

    2. Re:RL shops can spy on you too by NotInHere · · Score: 1

      No, its completely passive when searching for acces points. Instead it works the other way round, with the access points sending a beacon frame, usually ten times per second.

    3. Re:RL shops can spy on you too by internerdj · · Score: 1

      My AT&T Galaxy S5 will automatically connect to AT&T access points and I've noticed quite a few stores seem to have access provided by AT&T.

  2. Nigerian Inheiritence by redelm · · Score: 1

    I hope everyone is occasionally deterred from some online activities. Certain are just plain dodgy, like getting your news from the beeb. But exercising some caution is not the same as air-gap isolation.

  3. This isn't bad news... by n3tkUt · · Score: 2

    People are getting fed up, good, they should be. Some are horrible with passwords and general security, that's in their control, and is their own fault. But, all of the other concerns are the fault of retailers, social media sites, and government spy programs. Those things need to change, and people leaving the affected services is a step in the right direction. Also, I couldn't help but smirk at "19% of US online households had been affected by an online security breach in the previous year..." That number is closer to 100%. If you're not hyper-vigilant about online security, you're being sniffed and snooped by the government, by Microsoft, by Google, by Facebook, by Amazon, etc.. People can't even look up the weather without their browser being raped.

    1. Re:This isn't bad news... by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      The reality is quite simple, targeted advertisements have a very damaging subconscious impact. They see that alignment of advertisements with their behaviour and are subconsciously disturbed by it without actually expressing that concern, simply curtailing the behaviour that brings it about. We know what is going on and consciously protecting ourselves or even providing misinformation to contaminate the database, as computer geeks and nerds. They do not (it's all the magic box that does, magic things, they call it a computer without any understanding of how it computes), so the impact becomes very disturbing subconsciously, they then avoid interactions that generate those undesired unspoken feelings, interesting impact.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  4. Why worry about credit cards? by heypete · · Score: 2

    I've never understood why anyone worries about their credit card information when shopping online: it's literally the least-valuable information that I possess, insofar as its compromise will affect me.

    I'm not liable for any fraudulent charges made with my card, and reporting mis-use is the work of a few moments (unless the bank notices it first and notifies me, in which case its even less work for me). A replacement card will be in my mailbox in a few days.

    Is it a minor hassle to update the card number on file with various merchants I do business with? Certainly, and I'd rather such a situation if possible, but it's a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

    Other information -- social security numbers, for example -- are much more valuable to criminals (which is dumb: there really should be some better way of identifying someone), and it's a good thing such information is only rarely needed and asked for. In general, SSNs can't be changed and it's a huge pain to recover from identity theft, but a stolen credit card? That's a minor inconvenience, at worst.

    1. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by nukenerd · · Score: 1

      I've never understood why anyone worries about their credit card information .... I'm not liable for any fraudulent charges made with my card, and reporting mis-use is the work of a few moments ..... A replacement card will be in my mailbox in a few days.

      You need to convince the bank that any transactions between its being compromised or stolen and your notifying them were not in fact yours. Good luck with that. I would not notice a fraudulent charge until the next monthly statement

      But you sound as if your cards are often compromised, lost or stolen, so it's all the more suprising if your bank cancels the fraudulant charges at the drop of a hat. You must have such a reputation with them that I wonder why they don't cancel your contract instead.

    2. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by heypete · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You need to convince the bank that any transactions between its being compromised or stolen and your notifying them were not in fact yours. Good luck with that. I would not notice a fraudulent charge until the next monthly statement

      I'm not sure where you live, but in the US it's quite easy: most banks allow you to simply mark one or more particular charges as fraudulent using their online banking website. Otherwise, you can report the card as lost/stolen using the website or by calling them. One time, ten years ago, they sent me a form I had to sign and mail back (at their expense) to attest that the charge was fraudulent. Took me about 30 seconds. The one other time I've reported it since then, it was all online with no paperwork. The one time the bank caught it before I did, no paperwork was necessary: they called me, described the suspicious transaction, I confirmed it was fraudulent, and they handled it from there.

      There's never been any adversarial questioning or anything from the bank, it's simply routine.

      But you sound as if your cards are often compromised, lost or stolen, so it's all the more suprising if your bank cancels the fraudulant charges at the drop of a hat. You must have such a reputation with them that I wonder why they don't cancel your contract instead.

      It's happened to me three times in 15 years, never through any fault of my own. I'd hardly consider that "often" or somehow deserving of a "reputation". Even if it was somehow considered excessive, I find it hard to believe that a bank would drop a long-time client simply because they were frequently the victim of crime.

      In each case, it's been quite obvious that the charges were unusual and fraudulent: As an example, when my card was compromised one time I lived in Arizona and I regularly made various routine charges (e.g. groceries, gas, food, etc.). It didn't really make sense that my card was used to buy $300 worth of gasoline at a gas station in Florida 20 minutes after I bought my regular groceries in Arizona, so the bank flagged the transaction and called me. Another time it was used to buy household appliances in some distant state I'd never visited to be delivered to an address I had no connection with whatsoever.

      Either way, dealing with the aftermath of the fraudulent credit card usage was only the most minor inconvenience. I don't understand why people get so worked up about such things: I'd be more concerned with my name, address, and other account details getting leaked since those can't be changed as easily (if at all).

    3. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by Anna+Merikin · · Score: 2

      I'm not liable for any fraudulent charges made with my card, and reporting mis-use is the work of a few moments (unless the bank notices it first and notifies me, in which case its even less work for me). A replacement card will be in my mailbox in a few days.

      Is it a minor hassle to update the card number on file with various merchants I do business with? Certainly, and I'd rather such a situation if possible, but it's a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

      That's the theory set forth by the banks; as someone whose cc info was compromised, it's not that simple. The "refund" on my debit card was conditional on the fraudster not contesting the removal of charges. Although the corrected balance appeared on my statement, the funds could be removed were the fraudster to appeal within 90 days. If I were to spend the funds on things like rent or food, I might get hit with overdraft charges if the appeal were made.

      So, not only did I need a new debit card account, with all that entails, I needed to find out which merchant defrauded me, and the funds in question were frozen (practically speaking, unavailable) for months.

      That was eight years ago; to this day, I have not (and will not) purchase anything from eBay (from whom the card info probably was sold) and there has been no repeat of fraud.

      Buyer beware: eBay is not secure like an integrated retailer. Your cc info is probably more valuable than the meager profit the seller may realize on your "bargain."

    4. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by heypete · · Score: 2

      That's why I essentially never use debit cards and advocate the use of credit cards: if I contest a charge on a debit card, I'm contesting whether or not I should get my own money back and, as you say, the money may be unavailable during the investigation.

      With credit cards, I'm contesting if I owe the bank money and I'm under no obligation to pay until the investigation and any related processes are ongoing.

      In regards to eBay, the merchants never get your credit card information. Virtually all transactions go through PayPal, which has its own buyer protection options above and beyond what your credit card offers. Things might have been different eight years ago.

    5. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by heypete · · Score: 1

      I'm under no obligation to pay until the investigation and any related processes are ongoing.

      Sorry, it's late. I meant to say I'm under no obligation to pay until the investigation and any related processes are complete (and I'd only need to pay if the investigation shows the charge was legitimate; obviously I'd not need to pay if the charge was fraudulent).

    6. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by jetkust · · Score: 1

      To this day, people still don't understand credit cards. They don't want to use it online because hackers, yet they'll hand it to complete strangers in real life. Either way, you're least likely to get your money stolen or lost by using credit cards. As for privacy, that's another story.

    7. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by jetkust · · Score: 2

      Convince them? In my experience, if someone fraudulently uses you're card, they call you. If you do anything out of the ordinary, they call you. I've had several calls from my bank having to verify that I was the one making the charges to unblock my card. Never the other way around. (They tend to understand concepts like if you use a card in the USA and minutes later it's used in Russia something isn't quite right, because nobody can possibly run that fast)

    8. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by Anna+Merikin · · Score: 1

      I don't disagree with what you say, but I would like to add something in defense of debit cards: they do not go on your credit record. I try to stay under the radar as much as possible. Financial people call me a "ghost" as I have no credit history. Zero. And I like it that way.

    9. Re:Why worry about credit cards? by sudon't · · Score: 1

      Is it a minor hassle to update the card number on file with various merchants I do business with? Certainly....

      I don't consider it a minor hassle to change the card number for all my auto-billing, but ok, I get what you're saying. Personally, I like using Paypal for online purchases because that way you only have one point of possible failure. Leaving your card numbers, along with your billing info, on dozens of servers is just asking for trouble, IMO. I have friends and relatives who are afraid to use their credit cards online, and I always tell them to use PayPal for everything, for the reasons I mentioned. I've been using it since 2003, and haven't had any problems with them.
      I do know people who are simply afraid to do some things online. But when I start explaining about AdBlock and Ghostery, VPNs, and password managers, (and not using your real name online!), you can see their eyes glaze over. It used to be that, if you had a computer, you were interested in computers and how they worked. Nowadays, everyone has one and it's just another appliance. People just want it to "work". You'll never be able to teach them good security practices.

      --
      -- sudon't

      Air-ride Equipped

  5. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Whenever I search for something on Amazon, it stalks me all around the web. I searched for the word "tarp" once (someone asked me how much they usually cost) and for several weeks afterwards, every web site on the planet was showing me ads for tarps- from Amazon and from other shady tarp-sellers. It's just creepy. What if you're at work and your laptop keeps displaying ads for stuff like this? I don't really like firing up IE just to find crap on Amazon. That's just too high of a price to pay.

    Web browsers have come the modern equivalent of the telescreens in Orwell's 1984- but Orwell never realized how popular telescreens would be. ("Big Brother gave me this new telescreen and it's huge, 2 mm thinner, comes with a front side camera, and I get an exercise instructor to monitor my fitness!")

  6. The profit-centric view by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    FTA:
    "[Our] initial analysis only scratches the surface of this important area, but it is clear that policymakers need to develop a better understanding of mistrust in the privacy and security of the internet and the resulting chilling effects."

    Hmmm... "chilling effects". Are they worried about the chilling effect on sharing ideas and doing useful research? Are they worried about the effect on the Web as a kind of social hangout? (I mean the kind of 'social hangout' the Internet was before the 'play date' version, e.g. Facebook, emerged to co-opt the process and spoil the party). Do they care about the Internet as part of the social fabric? It seems to me they're primarily interested in the impact on companies' bottom lines, and couldn't give a toss about anything else.

    As far as I'm concerned this is just another example of the impoverished view that the Web is merely another tool of commerce.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
  7. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by bjwest · · Score: 2

    Adblock Plus and NoScript will fix your adverstalking problems.

    --

    --- Keep the choice with the user..
  8. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by nukenerd · · Score: 1

    Web browsers have come the modern equivalent of the telescreens in Orwell's 1984- but Orwell never realized how popular telescreens would be.

    He did actually. When the hero gets a new flat the landlord apologises that it does not have a telescreen, which implies that most tenants would have expected one as standard. [Spoiler alert ------------------ it turns out that there is a hidden one]

  9. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 1

    I usually have AdBlock on, but whenever I turn it off on any website, I get the ads as a creepy reminder that I'm being watched by a crowd of colluding websites. (I don't know about Plus, but regular AdBlock is clearly just hiding the ads from view.)

  10. Part of the problem? by no-body · · Score: 1

    Aren't the venerable institutions of hospitals, insurances, lenders, CC companies, credit reporting serrvices, all asking for your crown jewel - SS# - or parts thereof and the bribed lawmakers allowing one unique key assigned to every person in the US used to index every fart one is doing the very cause of distrust? Try asking one of those mega $ corporations to please give me a dump of what personal data you store about me and see what respone you get - NIL! One needs to hire and pay a lawyer to make any impact at all.

  11. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by bjwest · · Score: 2

    Both Adblocks, AFAIK, only block adds. NoScript, or uScript will help with the tracking cookies and scripts. I've also started using Ghostery which is designed specifically for tracking.

    --

    --- Keep the choice with the user..
  12. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by hey! · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Err... you do know how statistical sampling works, don't you? If a bin holds a thousand widgets, and 50 of the first 100 randomly selected widgets are defective, you can by 95% certain that the number of defective widgets in the bin is between 450 and 550.

    41,000 households is not a small sample. The big question is to what degree the sampling methods are biased rather than random. But unless the sampling method is astonishingly and probably obviously bad, the inescapable conclusion is that a lot of households are sufficiently worried enough about privacy to curb their online shopping.

    On the other hand -- half of all households who do shop online is still a lot of households. Plenty to support a lot of online retailers.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  13. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 2

    you can by 95% certain that the number of defective widgets in the bin is between 450 and 550

    I'm not a statistician by any means, but isn't that assuming a normal distribution?

    --
    Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  14. I fear bricks and mortar stores more by PPH · · Score: 1

    Imagine standing at the checkout and the clerk pages the pharmacy over the PA for a price check on dragon dildos.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  15. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by kuzb · · Score: 1

    ...and it's got a good chance of being wrong because you can't guarantee that you're not just hitting a cluster of one kind of people. It's like sampling a section of Neapolitan ice cream and getting mostly chocolate, then assuming that it must be 95% chocolate because your sample wasn't very good.

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
  16. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    A binary variable (as opposed to, say, weight) doesn't really have a distribution.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  17. Re:Got a call from Microsoft recently by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    I got a call from them not long after XP expired when there were precisely zero windows machines in the house.

    I'm pretty impressed that they're willing to help Linux users.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  18. Deterred? by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

    What "deterred" semms to mean here is that respondents actually thought about privacy and either chose to avoid a dodgy site or thought twice about posting something on social media. In other words, exactly what they should be doing. It doesn't mean anyone stopped using online services altogether.

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
  19. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

    Sure it can. I'm not talking about the number of possible outcomes in a given test (like you said, binary: pass and fail). What I'm talking about is the number of actual outcomes over many tests (how many failed in a given sample): 50 in the first 100, 35 in the second 100, 60 in the third, etc.

    --
    Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  20. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by nukenerd · · Score: 1

    I'll tell you a secret : they don't stop even if you buy one.

  21. Buy your stuff online from a trusted site. by MtViewGuy · · Score: 1

    I think one reason why Amazon has been extremely successful is that they have been among the most diligent in protecting their retail web site from a hacker attack. They better be, given they are the world's largest online retailer and also a major provider of cloud computer services.

  22. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    What's that got to do with you being a mathematical ignoramus?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  23. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by Plus1Entropy · · Score: 1

    So you have 10 batches of 100 widgets each. You do 100% testing on the first batch, and find 50 failures. Now, the question is what you can predict about the failure rates of the other 9 batches?

    If the rate of failure is a normal distribution with a mean of 1/2, then you would expect around 450-550 failures total, with a 95% certainty. However, if the rate of failure is a decaying exponential, for example, then the first batch would have a much higher failure rate than subsequent batches, and you would not be able to make the same prediction. That's what I'm getting at.

    PS: I realized as I wrote this out that it's different from the example given by hey! that I originally replied to. His example was 100 randomly selected from all 1000 widgets, not 100% testing of the first 100. My sampling method is essentially biased. However, this is often what's done in production; you start with a very high (maybe 100%) testing rate until your failure rate is below some threshold, and then select random samples to test at a much lower frequency.

    --
    Only crack the nuts that crack. You don't put the ones that don't crack in the sack.
  24. Re:I like how they survey a very small subset... by kuzb · · Score: 1

    It has to do with the fact that the conclusion being drawn by the math and the reality of the sales figures don't support each other as they should. It's like saying "the videogame industry is dying" after steam releases a report that indicates record profits.

    It's astonishing that you're too stupid to understand that.

    --
    BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
  25. My parents by Not-a-Neg · · Score: 1

    My parents are over 65 years old, my Dad a retired Sr. Electrical Eng. III who worked at Applied Materials and my Mom a (still working) computer lab educator (teaches kids computers). Neither of them will shop online, they outright refuse to give their credit card information to anyone. They are fine with email and browsing websites but have this mentality that credit cards are only for emergencies and should never be used for convenience. They still pay for groceries with a checkbook and for any store that does not accept checks they pay with cash. When I moved from CA to IL my Mom decided she wanted to buy me a winter coat so she mailed me a check and emailed me a link to the coat she wanted me to buy for myself. The closest they have ever come to shopping online was a brick-and-mortar store had a kiosk where shoppers could locate what they wanted and pay in-store with a check. LOL, meanwhile, I'm currently expecting 8 packages this week from 4 different websites (mostly Amazon).

    --
    -==- Buy a Mac and leave me alone!