“Privacy concerns are growing with 74% more concerned about their online privacy than a year ago. Despite the constant media coverage of government surveillance programs such as NSA’s PRISM, this is not the main driver of online privacy concerns. People are far more concerned about businesses sharing personal information with other companies and tracking their online behavior to show targeted ads and content than anything the government is doing.  The report reveals:

• Consumer online privacy concerns remain extremely high with 92% of US internet users worrying about their privacy online compared with 89% in January 2013.
• Consumers are far more concerned about about companies tracking their activities (58%) than the government (38%).
• Consumer trust is falling. 54% of consumers (down from 57% in 2013) say they do not trust businesses with their personal information online.
• Online privacy concerns mean consumers are less likely to click on ads (83%), download apps (80%), enable location tracking (74%)
• See also the accompanying Infographic“