According to a survey commissioned by stopbadware.org, over 90% of Americans claim to feel safe online, in spite of clear indications that the number of fraud, phishing and identity theft incidents is rising fast.
You can read the complete press release from stopbadware.org here.
The survey, conducted by Zogby International, found that 88% of Americans feel safe when surfing the Internet using personal computers, and 84% believe they know enough and have enough tools to protect themselves from online privacy or security threats.
"What we have here is an Internet security paradox," said Maxim Weinstein, who manages the StopBadware.org team at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "Americans see themselves as safe online, even as we see an ongoing trend of organized criminal elements using the Internet to target unsuspecting users."
According to Consumer Reports National Research Center State of the Net Survey, identity theft online using phishing techniques accounted for $2.1 billion in financial damages last year.
Tracking Down Teens:
All age groups claim to feel safe online, but adolescents and young adults apparently feel safer than other age groups. Younger surfers have grown up online, have made virtual friends, and are immersed in an Internet culture which seems no more dangerous to them than the real world.
But in the real world trust must be built, you can see who you are doing business with, and it's really tough to represent yourself as a 16-year-old student when you're really a 62-year-old trickster.
Teenagers, especially, have a false sense of the security risks of giving out personal information online. They often simply don't have the experience to recognize a potentially dangerous situation, even when it's staring them in the virtual face, so to speak.We should all be encouraging teenager to reveal as little personal information as possible as they surf the Internet.
To that end, our OneTouch Online Purchasing service will come in handy. Teens can use it to buy as many ring tones and games as they please without telling anyone anything about themselves.
That's got to be good news for them and a serious setback for the online slimebags. For more information please visit
