Users wary of posting personal info

Web users are overcoming fears of sending credit card details over the internet, but are increasingly worried about the privacy of personal information, according to research.

A survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of consultant KPMG shows that one in four internet users worry about what is happening to their personal information when it has reached its destination.

'I think most users accept that data is secure in transit now and are quite content when they go to a new site,' said James McKeogh, senior security consultant at KPMG. 'The real problem now is once web retailers receive it, what are they going to do with it?'

'It's not so much, "Do I want to send my credit card details", but "Do I want to send my credit card details, my name, my age, my address and my inside leg measurement, when all I want to buy is a box of tissues?"'

More than one in five of the 2,076 respondents to the survey said an accreditation scheme is the single most reassuring sign when they are buying online. The most widely-used web hallmark, the Which? Web Trader scheme, was shut down earlier this year, and the government-backed TrustUK is trying to promote an alternative (Computing, 27 March).