Sharon Byerly

Michael Miner of the Chicago Reader opines on The Pew Research Center’s survey results concerning how American adults protect themselves after Edward Snowden revealed government surveillance programs in 2013. Results show that “slightly over half the Americans polled said they were “very concerned” or “somewhat concerned” about this monitoring.” A paltry number according to Miner.

Chicago Reader Bleader privacy blog post

Survey questions

Senior Pew researcher Mary Madden says of the results, that “half of Americans think it would be difficult for them to find tools and strategies to help them be more private as they use technology. The vast majority have not yet adopted some of the more advanced tools that would encrypt their communications or make them less visible when they are using the internet.” These strategies may include “special search engines, e-mail encryption programs, browser plug-ins, proxy servers, and anonymity software. The adults polled were asked about each tool, and in every case most of them—at least two persons in three and more often about four in five—had either not considered using the tool or had never heard of it.”