• MarketingVox, Tuesday, March 10, 2009 11:45 AM

American Web surfers are certainly concerned about online privacy, but the level of concern is highest among older Americans, according to a study from Burst Media. The survey, based on 4,000 responses to questions from adults age 18 and over, found that 80% are concerned about the retention of personal information such as age, gender, income and Web surfing habits. A whopping 85.7% of respondents age 55 said they were concerned about online privacy, compared to 67.3% of 18- to 24-year-olds.

The survey also found that 62.5% of Web users think their behavior is being tracked online as they surf different Web sites. As for personally identifiable information, 44.5% believe that Web sites use such information, while 20.2% say it is unlikely and 35.3% are unsure. Older segments were more likely than younger segments to say Web sites track PII.

Using a description of behavioral targeting as "advertisements more relevant to interest," 23.2% said they would not mind if non-personally identifiable information were collected to enhance ad targeting. Men were much more likely than women to say they did not mind ads targeted this way. "Online privacy is a prevailing concern for web surfers," said Chuck Moran, VP of marketing for Burst Media. "Advertisers must take concrete actions to mitigate consumers' privacy concerns and at the same time continue to deliver their message as effectively as possible."

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