June 22, 2005 at 3:17 pm
I doubt many of the people reading this newsletter are that uninformed, but I was stunned by this Sunbelt Software blog. It seems there was a survey from the Annenburg Public Policy Center on how informed online shoppers are about various things they encounter on the Internet. I was truly stunned at first by a few of the things mentioned, but then I started thinking.
It does make some sense that a privacy policy would protect your privacy, not just spell out how your information will be sold. Yet that's the way things are. One would think that a site that looks to compare prices would include the lowest ones. There are more and if you're interested, check out the survey.
It's probably people being naive, but they seem to look at the Internet as something new instead of being the same old business, but a new way of transacting it. I know many people that don't trust travel agents to get them the best deal, but somehow they feel that Expedia isn't a travel agent and will.
The scary one is that about half the people couldn't tell if they were being phished in a scam. I'm not surprised about that. Some of the scams are fairly sophisticated, and if you're expecting something like the scam, it could get you. If you had a loan application outstanding, then you might fall for that scheme. Or if you are a heavy PayPal user, you might expect that they want to verify your information.
The information age is a complicated one, and the new uses for information are incredible. We are truly in the information age and there is a lot of education that needs to take place for the vast majority of non-technical Internet users.
So watch out for your parents.
Steve Jones
June 23, 2005 at 2:20 am
Here in Britain we are just as uninformed and susceptible. Bank phishing mail is an everyday occurrence - only yesterday I received one supposedly from Barclays Bank which was extremely realistic looking and had correct looking web addresses etc. However as I don't have any banking with Barclays, they shouldn't have my email so I forwarded it to a saiiling friend who just happens to work for Barclays systems security and he confirmed it was phishing.
I consider myself relatively clued up and very wary of internet shopping - quite often I will find goods on the internet then order by phone! However I am very scared about the whole business because I have two gullible teenagers who are internet users (including banking) who could be very easily compromised. They also typically think they know it all and warnings about this sort of scam tend to be shrugged off and fall on deaf ears.
I think the problem is not just giving warnings, it is getting the user to relate that warning to their situation and to stop and think suspiciously when they come across an email or website requesting personal data. Achieving this would be a huge step forward.
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