Americans are concerned about internet privacy, but they’re far less worried about government snooping than they are about their online activity being monitored by hackers and advertisers. That’s according to a survey of 792 internet and smartphone users in the US by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, conducted in July. 86% of respondents said they had taken steps to remove or mask their digital footprints, including clearing cookies and browsing history (64%), deleting or editing something they had posted online (41%) and asking someone else to remove something posted about them (21%). “Users clearly want the option of being anonymous online and increasingly worry that this is not possible,” said Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project.
