Microsoft has put up a new brand new survey that shows that while a large number of people are concerned with their online privacy, it appears that far fewer actually make efforts to protect it.
In a new post on the Microsoft On The Issues blog, the software titan revealed that in a survey of 4,000 people in four countries (1,000 each in the US, UK, France and Germany) 87 percent of the respondents said that they were concerned with their online privacy.
Though surprisingly, only 47 percent of these people said they make an active effort to do protect their privacy on the Internet.
Redmond further explains that this survey (and its resulting campaign) is not just to inform the general public about just how important online privacy is, but also to gauge and better understand why there is significantly less engagement from users that are concerned about their online identity:
“This continues to be an issue of great importance for us, and will remain a top priority for Microsoft in meeting the needs of the hundreds of millions of consumers who gain value from our products and services every day. We can only meet this commitment if we engage with you to better understand your needs and deliver the kind of choice and control you’re seeking.”
Additionally (and rather unexpectedly) the survey shows that people in different countries have different attitudes when it comes to sharing online information with others.
The following numbers illustrate these facts — in France 67 percent of people share their birthday, while the corresponding figure in the US is 56 percent, 48 percent in the UK and 47 in Germany.
Microsoft has also created a new infographic that further details this study.
