"I think a lot of people who are not technically sophisticated are going online now, and that's all the more reason to provide consumer education so that people can make appropriate choices" about their privacy, said Dana Rosenfeld, assistant director of the bureau of consumer protection at the FTC.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project surveyed 2,117 Americans, of whom 1,017 were Internet users. The survey, which was conducted May 19 through June 21, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Although only 5% of Web surfers use "anonymizing" software to help prevent their computer from being tracked by a Web site, 10% reported that they have used data-scrambling encryption software to hide their e-mail from prying eyes.
And 20% use a secondary e-mail address when forced to provide information to a Web site. An additional 25% of Internet users say they have provided a fake name or given false responses to a Web site seeking personal information from them.
For decades, magazine publishers and direct-mail marketers have compiled and sold personal information about consumers. But privacy experts say the global computer network has dramatically raised the privacy stakes by making it much easier to collect, analyze and publish personal data on a more massive scale.
Consumers who give up their names and addresses online often do so without knowing how the data will be used, according to experts, many of whom advocate a greater government role in protecting privacy on the Net.
"Individuals who value their privacy aren't often able to make rational decisions about how to protect it," said David E. Sorkin, associate director of the Center for Information and Privacy Law in Chicago. "Privacy protection is not really something that you can leave to the free market."
But some industry groups take issue with privacy advocates, arguing that businesses in the virtual world have even more incentive than shopping malls and corner stores to protect their customers' privacy because the vast World Wide Web makes it easy and convenient for shoppers to take their business elsewhere.
"All you need to do is get mistreated once and you are out of there to another Web site," said Harris Miller, president of the trade group Information Technology Assn. of America in Arlington, Va. "Unlike in the bricks-and-mortar world, on the Internet you can always buy your clothes somewhere else, buy your books somewhere else." So merchants, he said, have to give their customers "first-class treatment."
