MasterCard has released a study revealing that traditional demographics—age, gender, race—are poor indicators of consumer attitudes toward online privacy, The Washington Post reports. MasterCard conducted interviews with 9,000 Internet users globally. Theodore Iacobuzio, MasterCard vice president of global insights, said, “We were blown away … It’s all about why you go online,” adding, “Why you go on determines your attitude toward data privacy.” Iacobuzio’s team defined five online personality types: passive users, proactive protectors, solely shoppers, open sharers and simply interactors. The study also found that privacy attitudes do not change; they “determine your behavior.” Iacobuzio said, “One of the real lessons of this piece is that consumers are well-aware of how to protect (their privacy) and whether they want to or not.” (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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