Over a third of US consumers do not use payment cards to buy from unfamiliar Web sites because of security concerns, according to the Ponemon Institute and Vontu's "2007 Consumer Survey on Data Security." The study covered a range of privacy and security concerns.


A separate study by Ponemon and TRUSTe found that although identity theft was still US Internet users' top privacy issue, irresponsible marketing like spam and telemarketing abuse were also cause for concern.



Not all of these concerns were baseless. More than six in 10 respondents also said they had been notified about a loss of their confidential data.

Data breaches are not the only way that consumers become distrustful. Over four in 10 respondents said that irresponsible marketing would lessen their trust in how a company handled privacy issues.



According to an August 2006 Gartner survey, nearly half of online US adults said that concerns about theft of information, data breaches or Internet-based attacks affected their purchasing payment, online transaction or e-mail behavior.

The financial cost of this mistrust in e-commerce was approximately $2 billion in 2006. Gartner estimates that $913 million in 2006 e-commerce sales were lost because of security concerns among online shoppers.

Another $1 billion was lost because of shoppers who refused to shop online due to security concerns. While "lost" may not be exactly the right word to use, as one cannot lose something one never had, it is clear that increasing trust online will result in a corresponding increase in online spending.



eMarketer Senior Analyst Ben Macklin says, "Internet users are prepared to forgo elements of their privacy to reap the benefits of participating in the online world, but if the costs begin to outweigh the benefits, consumers will opt out."