Consumer Reports WebWatch Finds Identity Theft Fears, Trust Concerns Turning Significant Number of U.S. Web Users Away
Thirty Percent Say They Have Reduced Overall Internet Use
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NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON, D.C., October 26, 2005 --
Web users are demanding more of Web sites while becoming less trustful of them, and adjusting their behavior in response to what they see as real threats online. In fact, almost a third say they are cutting back their Web use, says a national survey and report released today by Consumer Reports WebWatch. Go to http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/web-credibility-
reports-princeton.cfm to read and download the study.
The report, Leap of Faith: Using the Internet Despite the Dangers, is based on a poll conducted for WebWatch by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI), surveying a nationally representative sample of 1,501 Web users in the United States age 18 and over. The report revisits a similar national poll WebWatch and PSRAI conducted and released in 2002, A Matter of Trust: What Users Want From Web Sites.
The report is released today in conjunction with WebWatch’s conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., “Trust or Consequence: The Web’s Reputation at Risk.” The WebWatch site (http://www.consumerwebwatch.org) hosts all the organization’s published research, guidelines for Web sites to improve credibility, conference transcripts and ongoing work. The press conference will be webcast live at 9:30am EST and available at http://www.ConnectLive.com/events/crwebwatch. The entire conference will also be accessible by podcast on the WebWatch site.
Identity Theft & Web Behavior
For all online users, the report found that concern about identity theft is substantial, and is changing consumer behavior in major ways. Four in five Internet users (80 percent) are at least somewhat concerned someone could steal their identity from personal information on the Internet. Nearly nine out of ten users (86 percent) have made at least one change in their behavior because of this fear:
- 30 percent say they have reduced their overall use of the Internet.
- A majority of Internet users (53 percent) say they have stopped giving out personal information on the Internet.
- 25 percent say they have stopped buying things online.
- 54 percent of those who shop online report they have become more likely to read a site’s privacy policy or user agreement before buying.
- 29 percent of those who shop online say they have cut back on how often they buy on the Internet.
Trust & Credibility Online
WebWatch used results from its 2002 poll to create a set of guidelines for all Web sites to help improve credibility (http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/consumer-reports-
webwatch-guidelines.cfm). In this 2005 report, WebWatch asked the same questions about attributes of credibility, and found users have developed high expectations for Web sites over a relatively short period of time. In the current survey, more users say they are placing substantial importance on specific reasons for choosing one Web site over another than they did in 2002.
- 88 percent say keeping personal information safe and secure is very important for a Web site they visit.
- Being able to trust the information on a site is not far behind, with 81 percent saying it is very important, little changed from 80 percent in the 2002 survey.
- 76 percent say it is very important to be able to easily identify the sources of information on the site, up 8 percentage points.
- 73 percent rate knowing a site is updated frequently with new information as very important, also up 8 percentage points.
- More surprisingly, 48 percent say knowing who owns a Web site is very important, up 16 points.
“We’re gratified that over time, our guidelines for improving Web site credibility, and the general concerns of U.S. Internet users, remain connected,” said Beau Brendler, director of Consumer Reports WebWatch. “The types of qualities users expect from credible Web sites are the same qualities found in WebWatch’s guidelines.”
WebWatch has published a unique body of research on topics of concern to consumers, including credibility issues among health information Web sites, travel sites, search engines and others. For this 2005 report, WebWatch surveyed U.S. Internet users about other sectors of the Web in which WebWatch is conducting ongoing research: news and information sites and blogs; financial sites; and sites for children and teenagers.
Some major findings in these sectors:
News & Information Sites
- The percentage of adults saying they get most of their news from the Internet has doubled, going from 5 percent in 2002 to 11 percent in this poll.
- 69 percent of users say a clear distinction between advertising and news content is very important, up 10 percentage points since the 2002 survey.
- Three in 10 (31 percent) say it is very important that the news site reveal the financial relationships the site has with other sites or businesses, up nine percentage points from 22 percent in 2002.
- One quarter of users (27 percent) say they have visited a blog in the past several months, but just one in eight users (12 percent) say they believe the information on blogs is accurate at least most of the time.
- Fifty-seven percent distrust what blogs report, with 21 percent saying they are never, or almost never, accurate.
- Nearly half the poll’s respondents (47 percent) say they have come across manipulated digital images on the Web. However, nearly two-thirds (67 percent) said they trust online news sites a lot or somewhat to use photographs that are genuine and have not been altered to change their meaning.
Children’s Sites
- Almost all Internet users see adults’ seeking out children in chat rooms as a problem, with 86 percent saying it is a major problem.
- Three in five online users (61 percent) say violent online games are a major problem.
- More than four in five (82 percent) say the ease of viewing sexually explicit materials online is a major problem.
- The majority (56 percent) of users still has not heard of the practice among search engines of accepting fees to display certain Web sites more prominently on results pages when certain key words or phrases are typed in.
Not all the poll responses in the report are bad news for the Web.
Financial Services Sites
- Six in 10 users (61 percent) say they trust auction sites a lot (24 percent) or somewhat (37 percent).
- Banking sites are trusted by 68 percent of online users.
- 55 percent trust sites where one can set up automatic payment of bills.
The poll results and report can be found at the Consumer Reports WebWatch site (http://www.consumerwebwatch.org).
About Consumer Reports WebWatch
Consumer Reports WebWatch is the leader in investigative reporting on trust and credibility in the online marketplace. WebWatch uses the proven methods of Consumer Reports to produce comprehensive research, breakthrough conferences and serves as a daily resource of unbiased and trustworthy information. Its research agenda includes entire online marketplaces, such as travel, search, health, financial services and more. WebWatch is a project of Consumers Union and is funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute. WebWatch's investigative reports, articles and news are available to the general public at http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/ .
About Consumers Union
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, is an expert, independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves. To achieve this mission, we test, inform, and protect. To maintain our independence and impartiality, CU accepts no outside advertising, no free test samples, and has no agenda other than the interests of consumers. CU supports itself through the sale of its information products and services, individual contributions, and a few noncommercial grants. Consumer Reports content can be found online at ConsumerReports.org. Consumers Union's public policy work can be found online at ConsumersUnion.org.
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