Fears of net companies
By Asha

After hundreds of millions of people in the developed world signed up for ‘free’ services like email, games, search and blogs,  people are now concerned about how much of their personal data they have handed over to companies like Google and Facebook.

An Adweek/Harris Poll in USA found that when people were asked if they agree or disagree that some online companies, such as Google or Facebook, control too much of our personal information and know too much about our browsing habits, three quarters say that they agree (76%) with 36% strongly agreeing. Only one in six disagree that these companies know and control too much (16%) and even fewer are not sure (8%).

Additional findings include

- There is little difference in opinion by age-between 74% and 79% of all age groups agree that these companies have too much information and control. Yet, older adults, aged 55 and older, are most likely to strongly agree (41%) and the youngest adults, aged 18-34, are least likely to feel this way (31%);
- While majorities of both men and women agree that these companies control too much and have too much information about us, women are somewhat more likely to say this than men are (79% vs. 74%)