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One third of Americans hide info online after Snowden leaks: survey

Xinhua, March 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

About a third of Americans have taken steps to hide their information online from the government since former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden publicized government surveillance programs two years ago, a Pew Research Center survey said Monday.

The survey found that 87 percent of U.S. adults queried had heard at least a bit about the government surveillance programs to monitor phone use and internet use and that 34 percent of them have taken at least one action to shield their privacy.

These measures included changing privacy settings on social media, using social media less often, avoiding certain apps or uninstalling apps, speaking more in person instead of communicating online or by phone and avoiding using certain terms such as "explosives" in online communications.

About 25 percent of those who are aware of the surveillance programs said they had changed the patterns of their own use of various technological platforms "a great deal" or "somewhat" since the Snowden revelations, but many have not considered or are not aware of some of the more commonly available tools that could make their communications and activities more private, the survey said.

Americans, however, are split when it comes to being concerned about surveillance programs. While 57 percent said it is unacceptable for the government to monitor the communications of U. S. citizens, the public generally believed it is acceptable for the government to monitor many others, including foreign citizens, foreign leaders, and American leaders.

At the same time, majorities supported monitoring of those particular individuals who use words like "explosives" and " automatic weapons" in their search engine queries and those who visit anti-American websites.

Overall, 52 percent described themselves as "very concerned" or "somewhat concerned" about government surveillance of Americans' data and electronic communications, compared with 46 percent who described themselves as "not very concerned" or "not at all concerned" about the surveillance.

The findings were based on a survey of 475 adults between Nov. 26, 2014 and Jan. 3, 2015. Endite