Privacy policies and the Web: Who reads them anyway?

Privacy policies on websites? Who ever reads them?

According to an AsiaMedia report more than 60 per cent of young internet users do not read privacy policy statements despite showing a high awareness of guarding their personal information.

The 1,002 respondents aged between 15 and 29 were interviewed in a study conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data. The findings showed that 95 per cent of the respondents used the internet but that only 27 per cent of them were willing to provide personal data and only 12 per cent would give out their identity card number.

Over half of those polled said they had never made an online transaction, while 77 per cent of those who had participated in transactions by using the internet said their major concern was misuse of their personal data.

How different might any of this be in the US, Europe or elsewhere? Not much, I'll bet. But when the chips are down and the law's poking its nose into a transfer of personal data, the need for a belts and braces privacy policy comes into its own. Usually.