Personal information security is increasingly becoming a major concern in the online community. According the recent Pew Internet study, internet users' worry over personal information exposure has significantly increased by 30 percent from 2009.
No less than 50 percent of the on-line users reveal that they are worried about the increasing level of personal information about that are available in the Internet. The study by Pew Internet discovered that more people are concerned regarding specific information that are now accessible online such as, full names, phone numbers, birth dates, videos and group affiliations.
Out of the 792 people surveyed about online security, 86 percent have made efforts to increase their privacy protection. These usually involve deletion of cookies from their browsers, using encrypted emails, using false names, disguising IP addresses, and taking advantage of virtual networks. About 55 percent also tried to take actions to avoid being monitored by other people, specific groups or the government.
Even with the steps taken to strengthen the protection and security, 59 percent of the cyberspace users believe that it is impossible to be totally anonymous on-line. In fact, a significant set of those polled already experienced some trouble or another in their web activities. Around 21 percent had to manage e-mail and social network accounts being compromised, 12 percent were monitored on-line or sometimes even harassed and about six percent experienced tainted reputations due to some online incident.
Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Research Center's Internet Project explained that cyberspace users want the choice to be anonymous while using the internet. They are concerned that full anonymity is out of the question in the existing freedom online. He further said that their worries are applicable to "an entire ecosystem of surveillance."
" It is worth to note too that the results of the study also found on-line users are more keen in covering up their personal data from marketers, hackers, and even friends and family, than they are concerned of being monitored by the government.
