86% Of Internet Users Have Tried To Hide Their Identity Online

A massive 86% of internet users have taken steps to protect their information and hide their identity online, according to a new study.

What’s more, 55% have taken steps to avoid observation by certain people, while 28% have gone as far as using tools to disguise their identity or location.

According to the research from Attentiv, the most common people that web users were trying to avoid were ‘hackers and criminals’, followed by ‘advertisers’.

Also high up the list were ‘certain friends’, ‘people from your past’ and ‘family members or romantic partner’.

The findings come shortly after the scandal surrounding the hacking and subsequent release of private user information from affair-facilitating website Ashley Madison.

The site’s parent company is rumoured to have made millions by offering paid-for option for users to permanently delete their information. The hackers claim that the delete option wasn’t entirely affective, leading to sensitive data that should have been destroyed being made public online.

The Ashley Madison hack has once again thrown the issue of internet privacy into the limelight, especially where ‘sensitive’, potentially relationship-ending information is concerned.

Despite worrying revelations from whistle blowers like Edward Snowden concerning government snooping, ‘goverment’ and ‘law enforcement’ were cited as the least-feared entities online in the study.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, 59% of people think that it’s impossible to stay totally anonymous online.

(Image credit: IB Times)