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LEAP OF FAITH: USING THE INTERNET DESPITE THE DANGERS
Results of a National Survey of Internet Users for Consumer Reports WebWatch

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LEAP OF FAITH: USING THE
INTERNET DESPITE THE DANGERS
Results of a National Survey of Internet Users for Consumer Reports WebWatch
By Princeton Survey
Research Associates
International
October 26, 2005
Consumer Reports WebWatch
101 Truman Avenue
Yonkers, N.Y. 10703-1057
914.378.2600
www.ConsumerWebWatch.org
Executive Summary ................................................................1
About Consumer Reports WebWatch..........................................5
Credibility and Trust Online ......................................................6
What Is Important for all Sites ..................................................9
E-Commerce Sites ..................................................................12
Financial Sites ......................................................................14
Credit Card Fraud and Identity Theft ........................................17
Sites for Children and Teens ....................................................20
News and Information Sites ....................................................22
Search Engines......................................................................27
Appendix A: Survey Methodology Report ................................28
Appendix B: Final Topline Results ............................................32
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 1
Early in this second decade of the Web, Internet users are
more demanding of Web sites, less trusting and adjusting
their behavior in response to what they see as very real
threats in the online world. These are some of the findings
of the latest Consumer Reports WebWatch poll of 1,501
adult Internet users, covering a broad range of the issues
confronting the Internet.
With trust in the accuracy of information from Web sites
central to credibility, there are signs of declines in this
type of trust since the first WebWatch national survey, A
Matter of Trust: What Users Want From Web Sites, also
conducted in 2002 by Princeton Survey Research
Associates International.1 And Internet users remain quite
skeptical about various categories of Web sites in general,
even as they have built a level of trust with specific
Web sites through learning and experience.
Consumer trust in news sources remains high, even as
trust in business varies and signals a bit of a drop. For
news organizations, 56 percent of users say they trust
such organizations to provide accurate information at
least most of the time, little changed from the 58 percent
found in the 2002 survey. News Web sites are trusted by
54 percent of users. Trust in financial companies to provide
accurate information stands at 51 percent, down
four percentage points in three years. For some organizations,
distrust has risen. The share of Internet users who
say they almost never trust large corporations to provide
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/web-credibility-reports-a-matter-of-trust-abstract.cfm
KEY FINDINGS
Consumer Reports WebWatch obtained telephone
interviews with 1,501 U.S.-based adult Internet
users and discovered:
■ Nine out of 10 U.S Internet users over 18
have made changes to their behavior due to
fear of identity theft.
■ Of those changes, 30 percent say they have
reduced their overall use of the Internet.
■ 25 percent say they stopped buying things
online.
■ Among those who shop online, 29 percent say
have cut back on how often they buy things.
2 This item was not included in the 2002 survey.
3 Where a difference between two percentages in the report is discussed as significant, the difference has been tested and found to be statistically significant
at the 95% confidence level.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 2
accurate information has increased seven percentage
points since 2002. Web sites offering products for sale
have also lost some credibility. Now, one in five Internet
users (21%) say they almost never trust web sites offering
products for sale, up from 14% in 2002.
Users have developed high expectations for Web sites
over a relatively short period of time. In the current survey,
more users say they are placing substantial importance
on specific reasons for choosing one Web site over
another than they did in the 2002 survey.
■ 88 percent say keeping personal information safe and
secure is very important for a Web site they visit.2
■ Being able to trust the information on a site is not far
behind with 81 percent saying it is very important, little
changed from 80 percent in the 2002 survey.
■ 76 percent say it is very important to be able to easily
identify the sources of information on the site, up 8 percentage
points.3
■ 73 percent rate knowing a site is updated frequently
with new information as very important, also up 8 percentage
points.
■ 48 percent say knowing who owns a Web site is very
important, up 16 points.
IDENTITY THEFT
For all online users, concern about identity theft is substantial
and a worry that has changed their behavior in
sweeping ways. Four in five Internet users (80%) are at
least somewhat concerned that someone could steal their
identity from personal information that is on the Internet.
Forty-five percent say they worry a lot and 35 percent
say they worry some.
These high levels of concern have driven Internet users to
change their behavior online to try to protect themselves
and their money. Nearly nine out of ten users (86%) have
made at least one change in their behavior because of
fears about identity theft. These changes include:
■ A majority of Internet users (53%) say they have
stopped giving out personal information on the Internet.
■ 30 percent say they have reduced their overall use of
the Internet.
■ 25 percent say they stopped buying things online.
And there have been big changes among online shoppers
as well.
■ 8 percent of online shoppers have started using just a
single credit card for all the items they buy online.
■ 54 percent of those who shop online report they have
become more likely to read a site’s privacy policy or user
agreement before making a purchase.
■ And 29 percent say they have cut back on how often
they buy products on the Internet.
E-COMMERCE
Despite the fears about identity theft and loss of credit
card information, some online shopping and auction sites
have successfully built trust with users. After all, it is a
leap of faith for people to type their credit card number
into a form on a Web site, authorizing that site to charge
them money, with the site’s promise that the product they
want will be coming via mail, FedEx or UPS. The majority
of Internet users are at least somewhat trusting of both
online stores and online auctions. Seventy-seven percent
of online users say they trust sites where products can be
bought a lot (38%) or somewhat (39%). As one might
expect -- given the lower levels of usage of auction sites -
- the trust in auction sites is a bit lower, but still substantial.
Six in ten Internet users (61%) say they trust online
auction sites a lot (24%) or somewhat (37%).
FINANCIAL SITES
If buying a book online takes a small leap of faith, then
doing one’s banking online is a far bigger leap. Using an
online banking site can involve viewing the balance in
one’s checking account, moving money between accounts
and looking at images of checks that they have written.
Such information and such ability to move your money are
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 3
no longer the province only of one’s drawer full of financial
records and the august airs of the bank branch. And
many financial sites have earned the users’ trust:
■ Banking sites are trusted by 68 percent of all Internet
users.
■ 55 percent trust sites where one can set up automatic
payment of bills.
■ 52 percent say they trust sites where they can check
their credit history and credit score.
■ 42 percent say sites where they can buy and sell stocks
or mutual funds are trustworthy.
■ And 36 percent say the same for mortgage or loan
Web sites.
For each category of financial sites, those who use the
sites trust them far more than those who do not. For
example, 93 percent of those who do online banking say
they trust such sites, including a whopping 70 percent
saying they trust online banking sites a lot. In contrast,
only 48 percent of those who do not use online banking
say they trust such sites.
NEWS SITES
With the Internet’s combination of ease of use, speed of
delivery and the ability to update the news far faster than
in a newspaper or magazine, getting news online has
been one of the most used features of the online world.
Despite the proliferation of types and varieties of Web
sites, news remains a staple. Fully three-quarters of online
users (76%) say they have visited a news Web site in the
past several months.
More Americans are saying the Internet has become their
main source of news. Television still has the lions’ share
of the market with 61 percent saying it is their main
source, down a bit from 67 percent in 2002. The percentage
of adults saying they get most of their news from
the Internet has doubled, going from 5 percent in 2002
to 11 percent in the most recent survey.4
Information is the essence of news Web sites and thus
being able to believe the information on a news site is
central to building and maintaining users’ trust. The good
news for news sites is that Internet users express fairly
strong levels of belief in what news organizations and
news Web sites are saying.
Most Internet users believe what they see or read in traditional
media. Two-thirds of Internet users say they
believe almost all or most of what they see on national
television news they watch most often (68%), the daily
newspaper they read most often (67%), and the news site
they visit most often (68%). These numbers, while substantial,
do reflect the continuing decline in viewers’ and
readers’ trust in the credibility of the news media.
But just believing the information on the news sites is not
the only thing users are looking for. There are other
dimensions to news site credibility. On all four of the key
issues about trusting a news site, more users are likely to
say that it is very important for the news site to adhere to
these practices, compared with the first WebWatch survey
in 2002.
■ 69 percent of users say a clear distinction between
advertising and news content is very important. This finding
is up 10 percentage points since the 2002 survey.
■ Being able to reach those who are responsible for the
content of news and information sites is also high on the
users’ list, with nearly half (47%) now saying it is very
4 While most of the results reported here are based on adult Internet users, these findings are based on interviews with the total sample of all adults, n=2,529.
TWO-THIRDS OF INTERNET
USERS SAY THEY BELIEVE
ALMOST ALL OR MOST
OF WHAT THEY SEE ON
THE NEWS SITE THEY VISIT
MOST OFTEN (68%).
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 4
important that a site list the email address of the editor.
This is up 11 percentage points from the 2002 survey.
■ 44 percent say it is very important that the news site
have a prominently displayed page for corrections and
clarifications, up 10 percentage points from 2002.
■ In the current survey, three in ten (31%) say it is very
important that the news site reveal the financial relationships
the site has with other sites or other businesses, compared
with 22 percent who said the same in the 2002 survey.
BLOGS
Blogs have emerged as a new Internet phenomenon,
their numbers growing by the thousands as controversy
heats up about their reliability and role in media and
democracy. Blogs – short for Web log, a reference to the
tradition of linking to other Web sites as events unfold –
have won some readers, but not much trust.
Fully one-quarter of Internet users (27%) say they have
visited a blog in the past several months. Such popularity
does not mean that the audience believes what they
are reading. Just one in eight Internet users (12%) say
they believe that the information on blogs is accurate at
least most of the time. A total of 57 percent distrust what
blogs report, with 21 percent saying they are never or
almost never accurate. Nearly a third of all users (31%)
cannot rate the blogs’ accuracy.
Even among those who say they have gone to blogs, only
16 percent say they trust what they read.
SITES FOR CHILDREN
AND TEENAGERS
For many people, the Internet is a potential danger zone
for children. Pornography can be accessed relatively easily
and children can also come in contact with adults online
who might seek to take advantage of or abuse them.
A large majority of Internet users (86%) think that the
Web needs a rating system for Web sites, similar to the
existing systems for movies, television and video games
that attempt to signal whether or not the product is suitable
for children of certain ages. Only 12 percent do not
support such a system.
■ Almost all Internet users see adults’ seeking out children
in chat rooms as a problem, with 86 percent saying
it is major problem.
■ Likewise, almost all adult online users say that the ease
of viewing sexually explicit materials online is a problem.
More than four in five (82%) say it is a major problem.
■ Violent video games that can be played online are also
a major concern. Three in five online users (61%) say that
violent online games are a major problem.
SEARCH ENGINES
Search engines are often among the first resources to
which users turn when they want to find information
online. One characteristic of search engines is that they
are sometimes paid fees to display certain Web sites
more prominently on results pages when certain key
words or phrases are typed in. Many online consumers
have heard of this practice, but a majority have not.
More people today (44%) have heard or read about
search engines being paid fees to list some sites more
prominently than others in their search results, compared
with 39 percent in 2002. The majority (56%) has still not
heard of this common practice.
ABOUT THIS SURVEY
The survey results are based on interviews with 1,501
Internet users age 18 and older, conducted for Consumer
Reports WebWatch by Princeton Survey Research
Associates. The Internet users were identified from
among 2,529 adults interviewed for the survey by telephone
from May 19, 2005 to June 21, 2005. For results
based on all Internet users, the sampling error margin is
plus or minus 3 percentage points.5 The sampling error
margin is higher for sub-groups of Internet users.
5 See Survey Methodology Report for full explanation of survey methods, sampling and response rates.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 5
Consumer Reports WebWatch is the leader in investigative
reporting on trust and credibility in the online
marketplace. WebWatch uses the proven methods of
Consumer Reports to produce comprehensive research,
convenes breakthrough conferences and serves as a
daily resource of unbiased and trustworthy information.
Its research agenda includes entire online marketplaces,
such as health, search, travel, news and information, children
and teenagers, financial services and more.
WebWatch is a project of Consumers Union and is funded
by The Pew Charitable Trusts, The John S. and James
L. Knight Foundation, and the Open Society Institute.
WebWatch's investigative reports, articles and news are
available to the general public at http://www.consumer
webwatch.org.
ABOUT CONSUMER REPORTS
WEBWATCH
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 6
With literally millions of Web sites on the Internet, building
and maintaining public trust is crucial to a site’s success
with the Internet users. The ease with which a user
can move from one site to another places a premium on
the site’s building a credible connection with the user and
maintaining the trust that such a relationship requires.
Overall trust in the accuracy of information that organizations
and Web sites provide is central to credibility
and there are signs of some declines in this type of trust
since the first WebWatch national survey, A Matter of
Trust: What Users Want From Web Sites, also conducted
in 2002 by Princeton Survey Research Associates
International.6
And Internet users remain quite skeptical about various
categories of Web sites in general, even as they have
built a level of trust with specific Web sites through learning
and experience.
News organizations top the list of trusted sources for accurate
information among those included in this survey (see
Table 1). The more traditional, mainstream media sources
such as newspapers and television news receive the highest
ratings, with 56 percent of users saying that they trust
these organizations just about always or most of the time.
This percentage is little changed since 2002, when 58
percent of users rated news organizations as highly.
The only type of Web site that also wins trust in its accuracy
from a majority of the users are news Web sites,
which are trusted at least most of the time by a majority of
users (54%). That finding is little different from the overall
trust in the news media, which is not surprising given the
dominance of Web sites from the mainstream media.
Consumer trust in businesses varies and signals a bit of a
drop from the previous survey. One-half of Internet users
(51%) say they trust financial companies such as banks,
insurance companies, and stock brokers just about
always or most of the time to provide accurate information.
This is down four percentage points since 2002.
Confidence in large corporations to provide reliable
information is bleaker, with just 29 percent giving high
ratings, down a bit to the 32 percent who said so in
2002. Distrust in large corporation has jumped. Now a
CREDIBILITY AND TRUST ONLINE
6 http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/web-credibility-reports-a-matter-of-trust-abstract.cfm
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 7
larger share of Internet users say they almost never or
never trust large corporations to provide accurate information
than said so in 2002 (21% vs. 14%).
Web sites that offer products for sale have also lost some
of their credibility among Internet users. One-quarter of
Internet users say they trust Web sites that offer products
for sale always or most of the time for the accuracy of
information, a slight dip from 2002 when 29% gave
such a rating. However, the share of users who say they
almost never or never trust these types of sites has
climbed seven points (21% in 2005 vs. 14% in 2002).
Three in ten users trust the accuracy of Web sites that provide
advice to consumers about which products or services
to buy (31%) just about always or most of the time,
similar to the 33 percent in 2002.
Other types of Web sites earn equally low marks in terms
of the trust in the accuracy of the information they present.
About one-third of Internet users (34%) say Web sites for
children can be trusted at least most of the time to provide
accurate information. A new type of site included in this
survey is the blog – short for Web log, a reference to the
tradition of linking to other Web sites as events unfold.
Attention to and usage of blogs have grown substantially.
But increased attention does not translate to increased
trust: just one in eight Internet users (12%) trust the accuracy
of information in blogs, including only two percent
saying they trust this source just about all of the time.
Confidence in online sources to provide accurate information
declines with age among Internet users (see Table
2). For all five of the online sources asked about in the
current survey, Gen X and Gen Y are more likely than
Matures (60 and older) to trust the accuracy of information
provided on those Web sites.
Unsurprisingly, those who buy products online and those
who use their credit cards online are more likely to trust the
information on shopping sites than those who do not shop
online. Those who make purchases online do trust shopping
sites at nearly twice the rate of those who do not shop
online (29% vs. 14%). Similar findings emerge for those
who use and those who do not use credit cards online
(29% vs. 17%). Likewise, ratings of Web sites offering
advice on products or services are related to online shopping.
Those who shop online are more likely than those
who do not to trust consumer advice sites (33% vs. 24%).
TRUST IN ORGANIZATIONS FOR ACCURATE INFORMATION
2005 2002
ALWAYS/ SOME TIME/ ALWAYS/ SOME TIME/
MOST OF TIME NEVER MOST OF TIME NEVER
NEWSPAPERS AND TV NEWS 56 42 58 41
NEWS WEB SITES 54 39 -- --
FINANCIAL COMPANIES 51 47 55 44
WEB SITES FOR CHILDREN 34 36 -- --
WEB SITES THAT PROVIDE ADVICE TO CONSUMERS 31 62 33 59
ABOUT WHICH PRODUCTS OR SERVICES TO BUY
LARGE CORPORATIONS 29 69 32 66
WEB SITES THAT OFFER PRODUCTS FOR SALE 26 69 29 64
WEB LOGS OR BLOGS POSTED ONLINE 12 57 -- --
TABLE 1
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 8
Likewise, those who have gone to news sites are more likely
than those who have not to say they trust news sites at least
most of the time. About three in five Internet users (59%) who
have used a news site say they trust news sites at least most
of the time to provide accurate information, compared with
two in five (39%) who have not visited a news site.
Trust in the credibility of online sources is at least partly
a reflection of individuals’ levels of trust in general (see
Table 3). Together, these views influence people’s online
activities and the degree to which they trust those Internet
resources. Those who believe that most people can be
trusted are more likely than those who say you can’t be
too careful with people to trust the accuracy of information
provided at least most of the time. This relationship
is not true for trusting Web sites for children, or for blogs.
IMPACT OF OVERALL TRUST ON TRUSTING INSTITUTIONS
CAN TRUST CAN’T BE
TOTAL MOST PEOPLE TOO CAREFUL
TRUST THIS SOURCE: % % %
NEWSPAPERS AND TV NEWS 56 64 53
NEWS WEB SITES 54 64 49
FINANCIAL COMPANIES 51 59 47
WEB SITES THAT PROVIDE ADVICE TO CONSUMERS 31 41 26
ABOUT WHICH PRODUCTS OR SERVICES TO BUY
LARGE CORPORATIONS 29 37 24
WEB SITES THAT OFFER PRODUCTS FOR SALE 26 35 21
TABLE 3
TRUSTING ONLINE SITES’ INFORMATION ALMOST ALWAYS OR
MOST OF THE TIME BY GENERATION
GEN Y GEN X BABY BOOM MATURES
18-29 30-40 41-59 60+
TRUST THIS SOURCE: % % % %
NEWS WEB SITES 65 59 50 35
WEB SITES FOR CHILDREN 50 40 26 10
WEB SITES THAT PROVIDE ADVICE TO CONSUMERS 31 36 32 21
ABOUT WHICH PRODUCTS OR SERVICES TO BUY
WEB SITES THAT OFFER PRODUCTS FOR SALE 28 28 25 20
WEB LOGS OR BLOGS POSTED ONLINE 15 13 11 7
TABLE 2
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 9
Internet users have high expectations for Web sites and
those expectations have increased with time. As in the
2002 WebWatch survey, users were asked how much
importance they give to various reasons for deciding
to visit Web sites. In the current survey, users are placing
more importance on nearly all the items than they
did in 2002 (see Table 4). There is no marked difference
in the order of importance of these reasons since
2002, but an overall rise in the degree of care and
concern.
A new item asked on the current survey tops the list of
WHAT IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL SITES
TREND IN PERCENTAGE WHO SAY EACH IS VERY IMPORTANT REASON
IN DECIDING TO VISIT WEB SITES
2005 2002 CHANGE
THE SITE WILL KEEP PERSONAL INFORMATION I PROVIDE SAFE AND SECURE 88 -- --
BEING ABLE TO TRUST THE INFORMATION ON THE WEB SITE 81 80 +1
THE SITE IS EASY TO NAVIGATE AND TO FIND WHAT YOU WANT 77 80 -3
BEING ABLE TO EASILY IDENTIFY THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE SITE 76 68 +8
KNOWING THE WEB SITE IS UPDATED FREQUENTLY WITH NEW INFORMATION 73 65 +8
KNOWING WHO OWNS THE WEB SITE 48 32 +16
WHAT BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS FINANCIALLY SUPPORT THE SITE 38 24 +14
THE SITE DISPLAYS SEALS OF APPROVAL FROM OTHER GROUPS 24 19 +5
TABLE 4
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 10
very important features a Web site must have: the site will
keep personal information safe and secure (88%).
In line with the concern that Web sites need to keep personal
information secure is the great importance that the
information presented on a Web site be trustworthy. Fully
81 percent of users say it is very important to be able to
trust the information on a Web site.
Three other reasons are rated as highly important by
large majorities of Internet users. Seventy-seven percent
say that it is very important that the site be easily navigable
to find the information they want. Following closely
are 76 percent who say that being able to easily identify
the sources of information on the site is a very important
feature. Seventy-three percent of Internet users rate
knowing that a Web site is updated frequently as very
important. It is apparent that consumers place high value
not only on having accurate information but having that
information be as up-to-the-minute as possible.
Interestingly, women are more likely to say four of the five
top items are very important attributes of Web sites. For
example, 81 percent of women and only 71 percent of
men say that being able to easily identify the sources of
information on a site is very important (see Table 5).
Age also plays a small role in rating of Web site qualities
as very important. Specifically, Baby Boomers rate four
of the top five items as very important more often than
their older or younger counterparts. Boomers are more
likely than those age 60 or older to rate these as very
important: keeping personal information safe and secure
(91% vs. 84%), being able to trust the information on the
site (84% vs. 76%), and being able to easily navigate the
site (83% vs. 73%). Compared to Generations X and Y
(those age 18-40), Boomers are more likely to rate the
following as very important: the site is easy to navigate
and to find what I want (83% vs. 75%) and the site identifies
its sources of information (80% vs. 73%).
Compared to the large majorities of Internet users rating
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN RATING OF WEB SITE CHARACTERISTICS
AS VERY IMPORTANT
TOTAL WOMEN MEN
% % %
THE SITE WILL KEEP PERSONAL INFORMATION I PROVIDE SAFE AND SECURE 88 91 85
BEING ABLE TO TRUST THE INFORMATION ON THE WEB SITE 81 85 78
THE SITE IS EASY TO NAVIGATE AND TO FIND WHAT YOU WANT 77 81 74
BEING ABLE TO EASILY IDENTIFY THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON THE SITE 76 81 71
TABLE 5
CONSUMERS PLACE HIGH
VALUE NOT ONLY
ON HAVING ACCURATE
INFORMATION BUT
HAVING THAT
INFORMATION BE AS
UP-TO-DATE AS POSSIBLE.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 11
the above mentioned features as very important, the
remaining three reasons do not garner as much public
support. However, they should not be disregarded or
treated as trivial matters: seven in ten users think that
each of these three items is at least somewhat important
to them when they use the Internet (see Chart 1).
Knowing who owns the Web site, what businesses and
organizations financially support the site, and whether
the site displays seals of approval from other groups are
at least somewhat important to the majority of users.
Chart 1: Im portance of Site Features to
Internet Users
24%
38%
48%
47%
38%
30%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Site displays seals of approval
W hat organizations financially support
the site
Know ing who owns the web site
Very Som ew hat Im portance
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 12
If there is one type of site that stands out for most online
users, it is the online stores and auction sites such as
Amazon and eBay, where you can research, buy and sell
items online. And usage is high. Three-quarters of online
users (77%) have used the Internet to buy something
online and 44 percent have participated in an online
auction, such as on eBay.
The incidence of shopping at online stores and participating
in online auctions is higher among younger users
and those with annual incomes of at least $20,000 (See
Table 6).
One of the reasons for the popularity of online shopping
is price. The Internet is seen by many as a resource for
finding the lowest price on items. Nearly four in five
Internet users (79%) agree the Internet makes it easy for
them to find the lowest price for a product.
TRUST
A key to the success of online shopping and auction sites
is that they have built up the trust of users. After all, it is
something of a leap of faith to type one’s credit card number
into a form on a Web site, intentionally authorizing
that Web site to charge you money, with the site’s promise
that the product you want will be coming via mail,
FedEx or UPS.
The majority of Internet users are at least somewhat trusting
of both online stores and online auctions. Seventy-seven
percent of online users say they trust sites where products
can be bought a lot (38%) or somewhat (39%). Only 15
E-COMMERCE SITES
PERCENTAGE WHO HAVE USED
E-COMMERCE SITES
ONLINE ONLINE
STORE AUCTION
% %
AGE
Age 18-59 78 46
Age 60 and older 66 23
INCOME
$20,000 or more 81 47
Less than $20,000 63 28
TABLE 6
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 13
percent say they trust such sites a little or not at all.
As one might expect – given the lower levels of usage of
auction sites – the trust in auction sites is a bit lower, but
still reaches a majority. Six in ten Internet users say they
trust online auction sites a lot (24%) or somewhat (37%).
Nearly one in four say they trust such sites either a little
(12%) or not at all (11%). One in seven (15%) say they
do not have an opinion.
It will come as no surprise that those with the most experience
with online shopping sites are those with the highest
levels of trust in these sites. Those who make purchases
online are very likely to say they trust such sites: 89 percent
of this group say they trust the online stores, including
47 percent who say they trust them a lot (see Chart 2).
Opinions of those who do not shop online are divided: 36
percent trust online stores, 37 percent do not and 27 percent
say they don’t know enough to have an opinion.
Similarly, those who have bought and sold in online auctions
express high levels of trust. A total of 89 percent of
those who have participated in online auctions say they
trust such sites, including 45 percent who say they trust
them a lot. Those who have never bought or sold in an
online auction take a different view: 40 percent trust
online auctions; 33 percent do not and 27 percent do
not know.
Chart 2: Trust O nline Stores By Shopping
Behavior
36% 37%
89%
10%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Online shoppers Offline only
Trust Don't Trust
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 14
Early in the dot.com boom, checking stock prices online
was a “gee-whiz” feature that demonstrated the extraordinary
capability of the Web to rapidly provide information
that had previously been the province of professionals.
Today, the term financial services applied to Web
sites means far more than just checking stock prices.
Banking online is increasingly common, as is paying bills
electronically and dealing with stocks and mutual funds.
Three in five Internet users (60%) have used one or more
online financial services. Sites where one can do banking
online are by far the most popular, with 45 percent of
users going to such sites. Also popular are automatic bill
payment sites (23%), credit check sites (24%), stock and
mutual fund sites (12%), and mortgage or loan sites (7%).
Some demographic differences are observed in likelihood
of using any of the financial services sites (see
Table 7). For example, younger Internet users are more
likely than users age 50 and older to have used at least
one of the financial sites (64% vs. 51%). Those with
incomes of $20,000 or more are more likely to have
used an online banking site that those will lower incomes
(48% vs. 32%), while a similar divide exists between
those who have at least attended college compared with
those who have not (50% vs. 35%).
Comfort with online transactions means there is a clear
link between shopping and financial services: 69 percent
FINANCIAL SITES
PERCENTAGE WHO HAVE USED
FINANCIAL SITES
USED PAY
ANY BANKING BILLS
% % %
AGE
Age 18-49 64 49 25
Age 50+ 51 36 17
ANNUAL INCOME
$20,000 or more 64 48 26
Less than $20,000 43 32 17
EDUCATION
Attended College/ 65 50 26
College Graduates
High School Graduate or less 52 35 17
TABLE 7
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 15
of online shoppers use the Internet for financial services,
compared with 29 percent of those who do not shop
online.
TRUST
If buying a book online is a small leap of faith, doing
one’s banking online is a far bigger leap. Using an
online banking site can involve checking the balance in
your checking account, moving money between
accounts and looking at images of checks that you have
written. Such information and such ability to move one’s
money are no longer the province only of one’s drawer
full of financial records and the august airs of the bank
branch.
These financial sites have earned the users’ trust (see
Table 8). For instance, banking sites are trusted by 68
percent of all Internet users, followed by 55 percent who
trust sites where you can set up automatic payment of
bills. Fifty-two percent of Internet users say they can trust
sites where they can check their credit history and credit
score. Forty-two percent say sites where they can buy
and sell stocks or mutual funds are trustworthy, and 36
percent say the same for mortgage or loan Web sites.
For each category of financial site, those who use the
sites trust them far more than those who do not. For example,
93 percent of those who do online banking say they
trust such sites, including a whopping 70 percent saying
they trust online banking sites a lot. In contrast, 48 percent
of those who do not use online banking say they trust
the sites. This suggests there is still a group of users who
might consider online banking. Likewise, 89 percent of
those who use Web sites to pay bills online say they trust
these sites.
Developing a level of trust in one type of Internet site
related to personal finances is clearly related to trusting
other types of financial sites. Internet users who engage
TRUST IN ONLINE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SITES
A LOT SOME A LITTLE NOT AT ALL
% % % %
SITES WHERE YOU CAN DO YOUR BANKING 43 25 8 15
SITES WHERE YOU CAN SET UP AUTOMATIC PAYMENT OF BILLS 31 24 10 20
SITES WHERE YOU CAN CHECK YOUR CREDIT HISTORY AND CREDIT SCORE 18 34 12 18
SITES WHERE YOU CAN BUY AND SELL STOCKS OR MUTUAL FUNDS 17 25 11 21
SITES WHERE YOU CAN APPLY FOR A MORTGAGE OR LOAN 10 26 13 28
TABLE 8
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 16
in e-commerce and financial management online are
more trusting of other online financial sites (see Table 9).
Those who have bought items online and those who have
used a credit card online are more likely to have a lot of
trust in online banking sites, as well as the other types of
financial sites.
TRUST FINANCIAL SITES A LOT BY USE OF E-COMMERCE AND
FINANCIAL SITES
USE FINANCIAL SITES USE CREDIT CARDS ONLINE BUY ONLINE
YES NO YES NO YES NO
% % % % % %
ONLINE BANKING SITES 60 17 51 19 49 19
AUTOMATIC BILL PAY SITES 43 12 36 15 35 13
CREDIT HISTORY SITES 25 8 21 10 21 9
STOCK OR MUTUAL FUND SITES 24 5 21 5 20 3
MORTGAGE OR LOAN SITES 13 4 12 4 11 3
TABLE 9
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 17
If shopping online is becoming ubiquitous, so is using one’s
credit card online to pay for those purchases. Three-quarters
of Internet users have used a credit card to buy something
online in the past 12 months, while 26 percent report they do
not use a credit card online. Total credit card use is up from
the 65 percent who reported using their credit card online in
the 2002 WebWatch survey.7 A plurality say they have used
their credit card one to five times in the past 12 months (43%),
17 percent say they have used it six to 12 times, and 15 percent
say they have used it 13 or more times.
Two-thirds of Internet users who use credit cards online
(67%) are concerned about someone stealing their credit
card number when they make purchases online. Twentyeight
percent say they worry a lot about credit card theft,
while 39 percent say they worried somewhat. But one-third
of those who use credit cards online (33%) say they do not
worry about theft of their credit card information online.
This level of concern has been roughly constant since the
last WebWatch survey. Even with the heightened attention
given to credit card fraud and identity theft in the past few
years, the share of Internet shoppers who say they are
concerned is essentially unchanged since 2002, when 65
percent reported this level of concern.
Certain groups express more concern over the risk of someone
else getting their credit card number when they shop
online. For example, 31 percent of women say they worry a
lot about this happening, compared with 25 percent of men.
Among that quarter of the online population that does not
use a credit card online, the reasons for not doing so are varied.
For example, 16 percent of this group say they do not
have a credit card. A sliver, six percent, say they prefer to
shop in person and another six percent say they are trying
not to use their credit cards at all. But the issues surrounding
theft of personal information online (hackers, identity theft,
not trusting Web sites) were cited in one fashion or another
by 60 percent of those who do not use credit cards online.
For all online users, concern about identity theft is substan-
CREDIT CARD FRAUD AND
IDENTITY THEFT
7 The current wording for this question is “Now, please tell me in the past 12 months, how often have you used your credit card to buy something on the
Internet?” The question in the 2002 survey was: “Have you ever used your credit card to buy something on the Internet?”
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 18
tially greater than simple concern about theft of credit card
information. Four in five Internet users (80%) are at least
somewhat concerned that someone could steal their identity
from personal information, such as Social Security numbers,
that is on the Internet. Forty-five percent say they
worry a lot and 35 percent say they worry some, while just
20 percent say they do not worry very much or at all.
Younger Internet users show less concern about the risk of
identity theft than their older counterparts do. Additionally,
those who use online e-commerce and financial sites worry
less (see Table 10).
The Internet itself is one of the sources of concern about
identify theft. The overwhelming majority of online users
(86%) believe that the Internet has made identify theft more
common, while just five percent say it has made it less common.
Five percent say the Internet has not had any impact.
These high levels of concern have driven Internet users to
change their behavior online to try to protect themselves
and their assets. Nearly nine out of ten users (86%) have
made at least one change in their behavior because of
fears about identity theft.
A majority of Internet users (53%) say they have stopped
giving out personal information on the Internet (see Chart
3). Fewer, but still substantial numbers of Internet users
say they have reduced their overall use of the Internet
(30%) or they stopped shopping online (25%) because of
concerns about identity theft and the security of their personal
information.
And there have been big changes among online shoppers
as well (see Chart 4). The most significant change is that
Chart 3 : Im pact of Fears about Identity Theft
am ong In ternet Users
25%
30%
53%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Stopped shopping
online
Reduced Internet
use
Stopped giving out
personal info online
% of Internet Users W ho Have Done This
CONCERN ABOUT IDENTITY
THEFT BY USE OF E-COMMERCE
AND FINANCIAL SITES ONLINE
A LOT SOME NOT
% % %
AGE
Gen Y 18-29 39 35 26
Gen X 30-40 46 36 19
Baby Boom 41-59 46 38 16
Matures 60+ 54 27 17
SHOP ONLINE
Yes 42 39 19
No 56 22 21
TRUST ONLINE STORES
A lot/Some 42 39 19
A little/Not at all 58 25 17
USE CREDIT CARD ONLINE
Yes 40 41 20
No 59 19 21
USE FINANCIAL SITES ONLINE
Yes 40 40 20
No 52 28 19
TABLE 10
Chart 4 : Im pact of Fears about
Identity Theft am ong Internet
Shoppers
29%
54%
58%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Reduced how often
shop online
% of Current Online Shoppers
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 19
58 percent have started using just one credit card for all
the items they buy online. Fifty-four percent of those who
continue to shop online reported they have become more
likely to read a site’s privacy policy or user agreement
before making a purchase. And 29 percent say they have
reduced how often they buy products on the Internet.
Those who worry a lot about identity theft and credit card
fraud are more likely than those with less concern to alter
their online behavior (see Table 11). For example, twothirds
of those who worry a lot about identity theft (66%)
have stopped giving out personal financial information
online, versus only 31 percent of those who are not worried.
And those worried about identity theft are twice as
likely as those who are not (43% vs. 17%) to say they
have reduced their overall use of the Web. In addition, 37
percent of those who are worried a great deal have simply
stopped buying things online because of those fears,
while only one in ten (10%) of those who are not worried
have stopped.
Levels of concern about identity theft and credit card fraud
are also related to changes in online shopping behaviors.
Those who worry a lot about identity theft are more likely
than those who worry little about it to say they have
reduced how often they buy items on the Internet (41% vs.
16%). Those worried about identity theft are also slightly
more likely to read a site’s privacy policies: 59 percent
among those who are deeply worried versus 43 percent
among those who are not worried. However, level of concern
about identity theft is not correlated with starting to
use just a single credit card online. The share of current
online shoppers who have started using just one credit
card does not vary with their level of concern about identity
theft (55 percent of those who worry a lot and 56 percent
among those who worry not much or not at all).
CHANGE IN ONLINE BEHAVIOR BY CONCERN ABOUT IDENTITY THEFT
A LOT NOT MUCH
% %
STOPPED GIVING OUT PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION ON THE INTERNET 66 31
REDUCED YOUR OVERALL USE OF THE INTERNET 43 17
STOPPED BUYING THINGS ON THE INTERNET 37 10
TABLE 11
CHANGE IN ONLINE SHOPPING BY CONCERN ABOUT IDENTITY THEFT
A LOT NOT MUCH
% %
STARTED USING JUST ONE CREDIT CARD FOR ALL ONLINE PURCHASES 55 56
MORE LIKELY TO READ PRIVACY POLICY/USER AGREEMENT BEFORE PURCHASE 59 43
REDUCED HOW OFTEN SHOP ONLINE 41 16
Based on current online shoppers
TABLE 12
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 20
Adult Internet users see danger online for children
under age 18. For many users, the biggest threats in the
wide-open world of the Internet are that children surfing
the Web can be exposed to pornography and other
images inappropriate for those under age 18 and that
children can also come in contact with adults online
who might seek to take advantage of and abuse them.
Asked about four potential problems online for children,
large majorities see all four as problems and substantial
majorities rate three of them as major problems (see
Table 13).
The top two concerns are related to sexual content or possible
inappropriate contact with adults. Almost all Internet
users see adults’ seeking out children in chat rooms as a
problem, with 86 percent saying it is major problem and
nine percent saying it is a minor problem. Only two percent
say it is not a problem.
Likewise, almost all adult online users say that the ease of
viewing sexually explicit materials online is a problem.
Again, more than four in five (82%) say it is a major
problem and 12 percent say it is minor problem.
SITES FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS
DANGERS ONLINE FOR CHILDREN
MAJOR MINOR NOT A
PROBLEM PROBLEM PROBLEM
% % %
ADULTS SEEKING OUT CHILDREN IN CHAT ROOMS 86 9 2
THE EASE OF VIEWING SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIALS 82 12 4
THE LARGE NUMBER OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES THAT CAN BE PLAYED ONLINE 61 25 10
SITES THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BE EDUCATIONAL, SEEM MORE ABOUT SELLING PRODUCTS 42 42 9
TABLE 13
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 21
Violent video games that can be played online are also
a major concern, but it does not rise to the level accorded
concerns about sexually related behavior. Three in
five online users (61%) say that violent online games are
a major problem. One in four (25%) say they are a
minor problem. And one in ten (10%) say they are not a
problem.
Web sites that may be perceived as educational, but are
really just advertisements and sales pitches to children
are also an issue, but at a much lower level. Two in five
adults (42%) say such sites that promise an educational
experience, but which are more about marketing products,
are a major problem. Another 42 percent say they
are a minor problem.
Women are somewhat more likely than men to say that
two of the issues are major problems: adults seeking out
children in chat rooms (91% vs. 82%) and the ease of
viewing sexually explicit materials (88% vs. 76%).
Women are much more likely than men to say that violent
video games that can be played online are a major problem
(73% vs. 49%).
Perhaps one surprising finding is that there is little difference
in perceptions of these threats between parents,
who have to deal with the issues of their own children
facing online threats, and those without children at
home. For the sexually-related threats, this lack of a difference
may be due to, in part, the fact that the overall
numbers are so high that there is only a small amount of
room for significantly more concern. On the issue of violent
video games online, parents are a bit more likely
than non-parents (65% vs. 59%) to say these are a
major problem.
Young adults are much less likely than older adults to see
online games as a problem. Only 44 percent of those in
Gen Y (age 18-29) say violent, online games are a major
problem, compared with more than seven in ten of those
in the Baby Boom generation and eight in ten of those
age 60 and over.
DOES THE INTERNET NEED A
RATING SYSTEM?
Movies, television shows and even video games now
have some type of rating system that attempts to signal
whether or not the product is suitable for children of certain
ages, with some additional warnings depending on
the industry.
There is no such widespread rating system for Web sites,
but the current survey shows that the public thinks there
should be. A large majority of all adults online (86%)
think that it would be a good idea for Web sites to use a
rating system, like television and video games already
do. Only 12 percent do not support such a system.
Support of this idea is slightly higher among those who
are parents of children under age 18 (91%), compared
with those who do not have children at home (82%).
PARENTS ARE TRYING TO DO
SOMETHING
Parents are trying to monitor key aspects of their children’s
online use, even though that can be difficult.
Roughly two out of three parents of kids age 6 to 17 say
their children go online (64%). Thirty-six percent say their
children do not go online. Of those parents whose children
use the Internet, almost eight in ten (79%) say they
have ever checked to see who the child was talking with
over the Internet. This percentage is relatively stable
across all age ranges of children.
A LARGE MAJORITY OF ALL
ADULTS ONLINE (89%)
THINK WEB SITES OUGHT
TO USE A RATING SYSTEM.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 22
Getting news online has been one of the outstanding features
of the Internet for the past decade, with the Internet’s
combination of ease of use, speed of delivery and the
ability to update the news far faster than in a newspaper
or magazine. Despite the proliferation of types and varieties
of Web sites, news remains a staple. Fully threequarters
of online users (76%) say they have visited a
news Web site over the past several months. That is quite
similar to the 73 percent who reported such visits in the
2002 WebWatch survey.
What has changed is that more Americans say the
Internet has become their main source of news. Television
and newspapers still have the lions’ share of the market,
but the Internet is growing. The great majority of
Americans (61%) get most of their news from television,
down a bit from 67 percent in 2002. In contrast, the percentage
of adults saying they get most of their news from
the Internet has doubled, from five percent in 2002 to 11
percent in the most recent survey.8
And there are major differences by age in terms of news
sources, with Generations X/Y, age 18-40, far more likely
to use the Internet for news (19%) compared with
Americans age 60 and older (1%). Those age 60 and older
tend to rely on more traditional sources such as television
and newspapers at higher rates than younger adults.
TRUST AND BELIEVABILITY
Very high on the list of what Internet users want in any
Web site is being able to trust the information on that site.
This is especially true of news and information sites,
where information is the very essence of what they are
offering. The good news for news sites is that Internet
NEWS AND INFORMATION SITES
8 While most of the results reported here are based on adult Internet users, these findings are based on interviews with a representative sample of all adults.
Chart 5: New s Sources by Generation
11%
19%
55%
12% 8%
62%
15% 13%
6%
1%
18%
70%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Television Paper/M ags. Internet Radio
18-40 41-59 60+
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 23
users express fairly strong levels of trust in the news
organizations, their Web sites and their products.
A solid majority of Internet users say they trust newspapers
and television news to provide accurate information (56%)
at least most of the time, while 42% say they trust these
institutions just some of the time or never. This is essentially
unchanged from the 58% of Internet users in 2002 who
gave news media such high trust ratings. Unsurprisingly,
given the close alignment of news Web sites and traditional
newspapers and television news media, a similar
share of Internet users say they just about always or most
of the time trust news Web sites to provide accurate information
(54%) as say they trust traditional media.
Credibility is the news media’s most precious commodity,
one that is hard to earn and easy to dissipate. Over the
years, a set of questions focusing on the believability of
the news media has worked well as a proxy for the full
set of issues that make up credibility. And over the past
20 years, that indicator has slid downhill.9
Most Internet users also believe what they see or read in
traditional media. Two-thirds of Internet users say they
believe almost all or most of what they see on national
television news they watch most often (68%), the daily
newspaper they read most often (67%), and the news site
they visit most often (68%).
These numbers, while substantial, do reflect the continuing
decline in viewers’ and readers’ trust in the credibility
of the news media. For example, in a national survey
for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 71 percent
of Internet users believed the daily newspaper (four
percentage points above the current reading).10
A difference between age groups emerges when considering
believability of national television news and daily
newspapers. Younger generations are more likely to rate
believability of both network television news and daily
newspapers more highly than their older counterparts
(See Chart 6). This is often discussed as a conundrum,
since traditional news media usage increases with age,
even as credibility declines.
FACTORS IN CHOOSING
While trusting the information online is a key to the users’
faith in any site, it is particularly essential to a news site.
And the expectations for a news and information site
remain different from those of an e-commerce site, as was
the case in the first WebWatch survey. The strong focus
9 See Pew Research Center report ‘News Audiences Increasingly Politicized’ at http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=833
10 See John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Community Indicators Project, National Survey at http://www.knightfdn.org/indicators/2002/nat/national
_report_2002.pdf
BELIEVE WHAT YOU SEE IN THE
NEWS MEDIA
ALMOST ONLY
ALL/ SOME/
MOST NONE
% %
NATIONAL TELEVISION NEWS 68 30
YOU WATCH MOST OFTEN
DAILY NEWSPAPER 67 27
YOU READ MOST OFTEN
NEWS SITE ON THE INTERNET 68 24
YOU VISIT MOST OFTEN
TABLE 14
Chart 6 : Believability of M edia by Generation
60% 58%
73% 71%
53%
57%
67%
75%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Gen X/Y
18-40
Trail Boom
41-49
Lead Boom
50-59
M ature
60+
Television New spaper
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 24
on privacy and financial security is not surprising on the
e-commerce sites; it is also not surprising that the users
focus on the underpinnings of credibility for news sites.
What is perhaps surprising is that the online users are
increasingly concerned about these credibility issues with
news sites. On all four of the key issues about trusting a
news site, users are more likely to say that it is very important
for the news site to adhere to these practices, compared
with the first WebWatch survey in 2002 (see Table 15).
For example, 69 percent of users say that the clear distinction
between advertising and news content is very
important, with 22 percent saying somewhat important.
Nine percent say it is not important. The percentage saying
this is very important has jumped 10 percentage
points, while there has been little change in percentage
who say it is somewhat important (25% in 2002 vs. 22%
in 2005).
Being able to reach those who are responsible for the
content of news and information sites is also high on the
users’ list. Nearly half (47%) now say it is very important
that a site list the email address of the editor or others
responsible for the site, so that users can reach them if
they choose to do so. That is up 11 percentage points
from the 36 percent finding in the 2002 survey. In the latest
survey, 36 percent say it is somewhat important for a
site to provide the email address, while only 17 percent
say it is not very important.
A major criticism of the news media – offline and online –
has been the number of errors that readers see and hear
in the news coverage. Online users want to make sure that
news sites fix their mistakes in a way that they can find.
Forty-four percent say it is very important that the news site
have a prominently displayed page for corrections and
clarifications. That is up from 10 percentage points from
34 percent in 2002. Now, 42 percent say it is somewhat
important that the corrections page be easy to find.
TREND IN PERCENT WHO SAY EACH IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THIS
INFORMATION BE ON NEWS WEB SITE
2005 2002 CHANGE
% %
ADVERTISING IS CLEARLY LABELED AS ADVERTISING AND DISTINGUISHED
FROM NEWS AND INFORMATION ON THE SITE 69 59 +10
E-MAIL ADDRESSES FOR THE EDITOR OR PEOPLE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
CONTENT ON THE SITE 47 36 +11
A PROMINENTLY DISPLAYED PAGE FOR CORRECTIONS AND CLARIFICATIONS 44 34 +10
THE FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIP THE SITE HAS WITH OTHER SITES
OR OTHER BUSINESSES, IF ANY 30 22 +8
TABLE 15
WHILE TRUSTING
INFORMATION ONLINE IS
A KEY TO THE USERS'
FAITH IN ANY SITE, IT IS
PARTICULARLY ESSENTIAL
TO A NEWS SITE.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 25
Given the oft-voiced concerns about financial conflicts-ofinterest
in the online world, the users want to know who
is backing the news sites. Nearly one-third of the users
(30%) say it is very important that the sites disclose their
financial relationships and 40 percent say it is somewhat
important.
Again, age emerges as a difference. Online Gen Y -
those age 18 to 29 - are less likely than those age 30
and older to think three out of the four factors are very
important: that advertising is clearly labeled (62% vs.
71%), that e-mail address for editors are listed (36% vs.
50%), and that there is a page for corrections (35% vs.
47%). A slightly different age pattern emerges for the
final factor of divulging the financial relationships the site
has with other sites or businesses. One-quarter of those
Internet users age 18 to 50 (26%) say listing financial
relationships is very important compared with four in ten
older Internet users (41%).
DON’T WANT TO PAY FOR NEWS
ONLINE
The so-called Mainstream Media are facing a brutal business
environment, as their audiences shrink and advertisers
look to the new medium of the Internet as the fresh,
cool way to reach audiences. One partial solution to the
news business conundrum has been to seek to charge for
news content online, much as subscriptions are charged
to receive the daily newspaper or to get the weekly news
magazines. But that model is little-loved among those
who would be asked to open their wallets.
Only about one in 16 users (6%) say they have paid for
access to news online. And another small sliver (7%) say
they would consider paying. The great majority of adults
online (86%) have not and would not consider paying a
fee to get greater access to or more in-depth news coverage
online.
Willingness to pay for content is never high, but younger
users are a bit more likely to agree it is a possibility. About
one in six members of Gen X (16%) and Gen Y (17%) say
they have or would pay for news content online, while
only eight percent of those age 60 and over would do so.
Unsurprisingly, those who have accessed news sites in
recent months are more likely to have already paid a
fee to get access to news online (7% vs. 1%). It also
appears that those who have read blogs recently are
the core of those who have paid for content online: 11
percent of those who have visited blogs have paid a fee
compared with four percent of those who have not visited
a blog.
PHOTOGRAPHIC TRICKERY
Paralleling the growth of the Internet in recent years has
been an explosion in the use of digital photography and
a rapidly increasing sophistication of software that can
manipulate such digital images. Across the Internet, there
are thousands of sites with photographs that have been
manipulated for effect, whether humor, satire or just plain
deception is the goal. Nearly half of the Internet users
(47%) say they have come across such manipulated digital
images as they have browsed the Web. An equal
number of Internet users say they have not seen such
images (49%).
In a remarkable statement of credibility, two-thirds of
those who use the Internet (67%) say they trust online
news sites a lot or somewhat to use photographs that are
genuine and have not been altered to change their meaning.
This total includes 13 percent who say they have a
lot of trust in the news sites to handle photographs honestly.
Only 30 percent say they have little or no trust at
all in the news Web site to use real pictures.
NEARLY HALF OF INTERNET
USERS (47%) SAY THEY
HAVE COME ACROSS
MANIPULATED DIGITAL
IMAGES AS THEY HAVE
BROWSED THE WEB.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 26
BLOGS AND THEIR ACCURACY
Blogs sprang into prominence in 2004 as one of the
newest and most visible features of the ever-changing
world of the Internet. Often the product of one person
and often featuring strong points of view, blogs have
emerged as a visible source of media criticism, reporting
and rapid-fire exchanges of information and opinion.
There was much chatter that blogs could replace, or at
least challenge, the Mainstream Media.
Fully one-quarter of Internet users (27%) say they have
visited a blog in the past several months, demonstrating
the wide reach of blogs and the potential for continued
growth. It will not come as a surprise that reading blogs
is quite related to age. Thirty-nine percent of online Gen
Y (age 18-29) have read a blog in the past few months,
compared with 22% of those age 30 and older. Men are
also more likely than women to have gone to a blog
(30% vs. 23%). And those with annual incomes of
$75,000 and up are more likely to read blogs (32%),
compared with 25 percent of those who make less.
But such popularity does not mean that the audience
believes what they are reading. Just one in eight Internet
users (12%) say they believe that the information on blogs
is accurate at least most of the time. A total of 57 percent
distrust what blogs report, with 36 percent saying they are
accurate some of time and 21 percent saying they are
never or almost never accurate. Nearly one-third of all
users (31%) fail to rate the blogs’ accuracy, reflecting the
still small share of Internet usage that blogs obtain.
Even among those who say they have gone to blogs, only
23 percent say they trust what they read at least most of
the time, versus 73 percent who say they believe only
some or nothing of what they read on blogs.
JUST ONE IN EIGHT
INTERNET USERS (12%) SAY
THEY BELIEVE THAT THE
INFORMATION ON BLOGS
IS ACCURATE AT LEAST
MOST OF THE TIME.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 27
Search engines are often among the first resources to
which users turn when they want to find information
online. One characteristic of search engine businesses is
that they are sometimes paid fees to display certain Web
sites more prominently on the results page when key
words or phrases are typed in. Many online consumers
have heard of this practice, but a majority have not. The
question remains: Armed with that information, is the
credibility of search engines compromised?
More people today (44%) have heard or read about
search engines being paid fees to list some sites more
prominently in their search results, compared with 39
percent in 2002. However, the majority (56%) still has
not heard of this common practice.
Several demographic differences in awareness of this
practice were observed. One-half of men (51%) are
aware of this practice, compared to 37 percent of
women. Educational attainment level also appears to
have a relationship with awareness of search engines
being paid fees for prominence in results. Users who
have at least some college education (49%) have heard
or read about search engines being paid fees; just 32
percent of those with a high school education or less are
able to say the same.
Even though most Internet users say they are unaware of
this practice by on search engines, they say they expect
this is what search engines are actually doing. When
asked which of two statements they think best describes
search engines, 50 percent of users say that they mostly
show results for sites that pay to be listed prominently.
Thirty-one percent say that search engines show the most
relevant results for a search most prominently. An additional
14 percent say they do not know.
Among those who could answer the question, there are
also some differences between groups about the belief that
search engines mostly show results for sites that pay for
prominence. Non-white users subscribe to this belief more
often than white users (65% v. 56%). Those in the middleincome
brackets are the most likely to share this view
(63%), compared with those making less that $20,000
(47%) and those making $75,000 or more (53%).
SEARCH ENGINES
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 28
SUMMARY
Consumer Reports WebWatch, a project of Consumers
Union, obtained telephone interviews with a nationally
representative sample of 1,501 Internet users age 18
and older living in continental United States telephone
households. The survey was conducted by Princeton
Survey Research International. Interviews were done in
English by Princeton Data Source, LLC from May 19
to June 21, 2005. Statistical results are weighted to correct
known demographic discrepancies. The margin
of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data
is ±2.7%.
Details on the design, execution and analysis of the survey
are discussed below.
DESIGN AND DATA COLLECTION
PROCEDURES
■ Sample Design
The sample was designed to represent all continental
U.S. telephone households. The telephone sample was
provided by Survey Sampling International, LLC (SSI)
according to PSRAI specifications. The sample was
drawn using standard list-assisted random digit dialing
(RDD) methodology. Active blocks of telephone numbers
(area code + exchange + two-digit block number)
that contained three or more residential directory listings
were selected with probabilities in proportion to
their share of listed telephone households; after selection
two more digits were added randomly to complete
the number. This method guarantees coverage of every
assigned phone number regardless of whether that
number is directory listed, purposely unlisted, or too
new to be listed. After selection, the numbers were
compared against business directories and matching
numbers purged.
■ Questionnaire Development and Testing
The questionnaire was developed by PSRAI in collaboration
with staff of the Consumer Union. In order to
improve the quality of the data, the questionnaire was
pretested with a small number of respondents using listed
telephone number sample. The pretest interviews
were monitored by PSRAI staff and conducted using
experienced interviewers who could best judge the quality
of the answers given and the degree to which respon-
APPENDIX A:
SURVEY METHODOLOGY REPORT
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 29
dents understood the questions. Some final changes
were made to the questionnaire based on the monitored
pretest interviews.
■ Contact Procedures
Interviews were conducted from May 19 to June 21,
2005. As many as 10 attempts were made to contact
every sampled telephone number. Sample was released
for interviewing in replicates, which are representative
subsamples of the larger sample. Using replicates to control
the release of sample ensures that complete call procedures
are followed for the entire sample.
Calls were staggered over times of day and days of the
week to maximize the chance of making contact with
potential respondents. Each household received at least
one daytime call in an attempt to find someone at home.
In each contacted household, interviewers asked to
speak with the youngest adult male currently at home. If
no male was available, interviewers asked to speak with
either the youngest or oldest female at home based on a
random rotation.11 This systematic respondent selection
technique has been shown to produce samples that closely
mirror the population in terms of age and gender.
Respondents who were not Internet users were screened
out of the main interview and asked only demographics
to facilitate sample weighting.
WEIGHTING AND ANALYSIS
Weighting is generally used in survey analysis to compensate
for patterns of nonresponse that might bias results. The
interviewed sample of all adults (Internet users combined
with non-users) was weighted to match national parameters
for sex, age, education, race, Hispanic origin and
region (U.S. Census definitions). These parameters came
from a special analysis of the Census Bureau’s 2004
Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) that
included all households in the continental United States that
had a telephone. After sample weighting, the non-Internet
users were dropped from most analyses.
Weighting was accomplished using Sample Balancing,
a special iterative sample weighting program that simultaneously
balances the distributions of all variables
using a statistical technique called the Deming
Algorithm. Weights were trimmed to prevent individual
interviews from having too much influence on the final
results. The use of these weights in statistical analysis
ensures that the demographic characteristics of the sample
closely approximate the demographic characteristics
of the national population. Appendix Table 1 compares
weighted and unweighted sample distributions to population
parameters.
EFFECTS OF SAMPLE DESIGN ON
STATISTICAL INFERENCE
Post-data collection statistical adjustments require analysis
procedures that reflect departures from simple random
sampling. PSRAI calculates the effects of these
design features so that an appropriate adjustment can
be incorporated into tests of statistical significance when
using these data. The so-called "design effect" or deff
represents the loss in statistical efficiency that results
from systematic non-response. The total sample design
effect for this survey is 1.17. The design effect for
Internet users is 1.16.
PSRAI calculates the composite design effect for a sample
11 This is part of a continuing experiment to see what effect, if any, asking for the youngest instead of the oldest female has on sample demographics.
TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS
WERE CONDUCTED
WITH 1,501 INTERNET
USERS AGE 18 AND
OLDER LIVING IN THE
CONTINENTAL U.S.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 30
of size n, with each case having a weight, wi as:
In a wide range of situations, the adjusted standard error
of a statistic should be calculated by multiplying the usual
formula by the square root of the design effect (√deff ).
Thus, the formula for computing the 95% confidence
interval around a percentage is:
where p is the sample estimate and n is the unweighted
number of sample cases in the group being considered.
The survey’s margin of error is the largest 95% confidence
interval for any estimated proportion based on the
total sample— the one around 50%. For example, the
margin of error for the Internet user sample (n=1,501) is
±2.7%. This means that in 95 out every 100 samples
drawn using the same methodology, estimated proportions
based on the entire sample will be no more than
2.7 percentage points away from their true values in the
population. The margin of error for estimates based on
total sample (n=2,529) is ±2.1%. It is important to
remember that sampling fluctuations are only one possible
source of error in a survey estimate. Other sources,
such as respondent selection bias, questionnaire wording
and reporting inaccuracy, may contribute additional
error of greater or lesser magnitude.
RESPONSE RATE
Appendix Table 2 reports the disposition of all sampled
telephone numbers ever dialed from the original telephone
number sample. The response rate estimates the
fraction of all eligible respondents in the sample that
TOTAL SAMPLE DEMOGRAPHICS
(Internet users and non-users)
PARAMETER UNWEIGHTED WEIGHTED
GENDER
Male 48.1 44.4 47.8
Female 51.9 55.6 52.2
AGE
18-24 12.6 9.5 12.5
25-34 18.0 12.9 17.5
35-44 20.3 17.4 20.1
45-54 19.3 18.4 19.3
55-64 13.4 18.2 13.7
65+ 16.4 23.6 17.0
EDUCATION
Less than HS Grad. 15.1 9.3 13.8
HS Grad. 35.8 32.8 36.0
Some College 23.3 22.2 23.5
College Grad. 25.8 35.7 26.7
REGION
Northeast 19.2 17.7 19.1
Midwest 23.0 24.2 23.3
South 36.0 37.9 36.1
West 21.8 20.2 21.5
RACE/ETHNICITY
White/not Hispanic 71.7 78.5 72.7
Black/not Hispanic 10.8 10.2 10.9
Hispanic 11.9 7.6 11.2
Other/not Hispanic 5.6 3.7 5.2
APPENDIX TABLE 1
2
1
1
2




=
Σ
Σ
=
=
n
i
i
n
i
i
w
n w
deff
formula 1
 

 
 −
± ×
n
p p
p deff
ˆ (1 ˆ )
ˆ 1.96 formula 2
ˆ
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 31
were ultimately interviewed. At PSRAI it is calculated by
taking the product of three component rates:12
Contact rate – the proportion of working numbers where
a request for interview was made – of 78 percent13
Cooperation rate – the proportion of contacted numbers
where a consent for interview was at least initially
obtained, versus those refused – of 47 percent
Completion rate – the proportion of initially cooperating
and eligible interviews that were completed – of 89
percent
Thus the response rate for this survey was 33 percent.
12 PSRAI’s disposition codes and reporting are consistent with the American Association for Public Opinion Research standards.
13 PSRAI assumes that 75 percent of cases that result in a constant disposition of “No answer” or “Busy” are actually not working numbers.
PSRAI SAMPLE DISPOSITION
FINAL
Total Numbers dialed 14,845
BUSINESS 1,334
COMPUTER/FAX 1,065
CELL PHONE 55
OTHER NOT-WORKING 2,468
ADDITIONAL PROJECTED NW 1,090
Working numbers 8,833
Working Rate 59.5%
NO ANSWER 197
BUSY 60
ANSWERING MACHINE 1,364
CALLBACKS 56
OTHER NON-CONTACTS 266
Contacted numbers 6,890
Contact Rate 78.0%
INITIAL REFUSALS 2,893
SECOND REFUSALS 741
Cooperating numbers 3,256
Cooperation Rate 47.3%
NO ADULT IN HH 22
LANGUAGE BARRIER 525
NON-INTERNET USER 1,028
Eligible numbers 1,681
Eligibility Rate 51.6%
INTERRUPTED 180
Completes 1,501
Completion Rate 89.3%
Response Rate 32.9%
APPENDIX TABLE 2
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 32
PRINCETON SURVEY RESEARCH
ASSOCIATES INTERNATIONAL
Consumer Reports WebWatch
July 18, 2005
Final Topline
Final results based on 1501 adult online users
Interview dates: May 19 – June 21, 2005
Margin of error: Plus or Minus 3 percentage points for
results based on the full sample of Internet users
■ Notes
An asterisk (*) indicates percentage less than 0.5%
Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding
Hello, my name is ___________ and I am calling for
Princeton Survey Research. We are conducting a survey
on behalf of a leading nonprofit organization to find out
what Americans think about some important issues today.
This survey is for research purposes ONLY – we won’t ask
you for money or try to sell you anything.
May I please speak with the YOUNGEST MALE, age 18
or older, who is now at home? (IF NO MALE, ASK: May
I please speak with the {OLDEST FEMALE/YOUNGEST
FEMALE}, age 18 or older, who is now at home?)
1. Overall, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the
way things are going in this country today?
Don‘t know
Satisfied Dissatisfied /Refused
Current 39 52 9
February 200514 41 48 11
June 200315 49 42 9
January 200216 59 27 14
APPENDIX B:
FINAL TOPLINE RESULTS
14 February 2005 trends from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Survey conducted January 13-February 9, 2005. Sample size, n=2,201 adults,
age 18 and older.
15 June 2003 trends from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Survey conducted June 10-24, 2003. Sample size, n=2,200 adults.
16 January 2002 trends from Consumers Union WebWatch survey. Conducted December 20, 2001-January 7, 2002. Sample size, n=2,542 adults, age 18
and older.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 33
2. In general, where do you get MOST of your news,
weather, and sports — from television, from newspapers
or magazines, from the Internet, or from radio?
Jan
Current 200217
61 Television 67
14 Newspapers or magazines 15
11 Internet 5
11 Radio 10
1 (Do Not Read) Other 1
2 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused 3
(READ) On another subject...
3. Do you ever go online to access the Internet or World
Wide Web or to send and receive email?
Yes No DK/Ref.
Current 59 41 0
November 200418 61 39 0
June 200319 62 38 0
January 2002 57 43 *
November 200020 53 47 0
4. Generally speaking, would you say that most people
can be trusted or that you can’t be too careful in
dealing with people?
June Jan
Current 2003 2002
29 Most people can be trusted 35 42
63 You can’t be too careful 58 51
6 (Volunteered. Do Not Read)
It depends 4 5
2 (Do Not Read)
Don't know/Refused 3 2
Questions 5- 33 are based on Internet Users (n=1501)
5. Now I’m going to ask you about various organizations
and types of organizations. How much of the
time do you think you can trust [Insert Item. Read
And Rotate] to provide information that is accurate
and not misleading…just about always, most of the
time, only some of the time or almost never?
Just Most Some Almost
about of the of the Never/ DK/
Always Time Time Never Ref.
a. Large
corporations
Current: 4 25 48 21 3
January 2002:21 3 29 52 14 3
b. Newspapers and
television news
Current: 9 47 36 6 1
January 2002: 10 48 36 5 1
c. Financial companies
such as banks,
insurance companies,
and stock brokers
Current: 8 43 39 8 2
January 2002: 10 45 37 7 1
d. Web sites that offer
products or services
for sale
Current: 3 23 48 21 4
January 2002: 3 26 50 14 6
e. Web sites that provide
advice to consumers
about which products
or services to buy
Current: 5 26 50 12 7
January 2002: 4 29 50 9 8
f. News Web sites
Current: 11 43 34 5 6
g. Web sites for children
Current: 8 26 26 10 30
h. Web logs or Blogs
posted online
Current: 2 10 36 21 31
17 Consumers Union WebWatch survey. Conducted December 20, 2001-January 7, 2002. Sample size, n=2,542 adults, age 18 and older.
18 November 2004 trends from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Survey conducted Nov 4-Nov 22, 2004, n=2,200.
19 June 2003 trends from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Survey conducted June 10-24, 2003. Sample size, n=2,200 adults.
20 November 2000 trends from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Survey conducted November 2, 2000 – December 1. n=6,322.
21 Consumers Union WebWatch survey. Conducted December 20, 2001-January 7, 2002. based on Internet users, n=1,500 Internet users, age 18 and older.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 34
6. As I read a list, please tell me if you have done any
of the following in the past several months when you
have gone online. (First/Next) In the past several
months, have you visited... [INSERT ITEM. READ
AND ROTATE]
Yes No DK/Ref.
a. A news Web site
Current: 76 24 *
January 2002: 73 27 *
b. A Web site that provides
advice to consumers about
which products or services
to buy
Current: 44 56 *
January 2002: 37 63 *
c. Web logs or Blogs posted
online by individuals
or groups
Current: 27 69 5
7. Thinking about the various kinds of Web sites you
have visited online, here are some reasons given for
going to particular sites. For each, I’d like to know
how important this is for you when you decide to
visit a Web site. First, [Insert item. ROTATE] how
important is this to you about a Web site… very
important, somewhat important, not very important
or not important at all?
Some- Not Not DK/
Very what very at all Ref.
a. Being able to trust
the information on
the Web site
Current: 81 14 2 1 1
January 2002: 80 14 3 1 1
b. Knowing the Web
site is updated
frequently with
new information
Current: 73 23 2 1 1
January 2002: 65 28 4 2 *
Some- Not Not DK/
Very what very at all Ref.
c. Knowing who owns
the Web site
Current: 48 30 14 8 1
January 2002: 32 33 22 12 1
d. The site is easy to
navigate and to find
what you want
Current: 77 19 2 1 *
January 2002: 80 16 2 1 1
e. Being able to easily
identify the sources of
information on the site
Current: 76 18 3 2 1
January 2002: 68 25 4 2 1
f. What businesses
and organizations
financially support
the site
Current: 38 38 15 8 1
January 2002: 24 37 27 11 2
g. The site displays seals
of approval from
other groups
Current: 24 47 17 11 2
January 2002: 19 41 26 12 2
h. The site will keep
personal information I
provide safe and secure
Current: 88 7 2 2 1
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 35
NEWS AND INFO SITES
8. Now thinking SPECIFICALLY about news and information
Web sites, here is a list of information and features
that are available on some sites. For each, I’d
like to know how important it is to you that this information
be on the site and easy to find. First, [insert
item] how important that this information be available
on the site … very important, somewhat important,
not very important or not important at all?
Some- Not Not DK/
Very what very at all Ref.
a. Email addresses
for the editor or
people responsible
for the content on
the site
Current: 47 36 11 6 *
January 2002: 36 39 16 7 1
b. A prominently
displayed page for
corrections and
clarifications
Current: 44 42 10 3 1
January 2002: 34 45 13 6 1
c. The financial
relationships the
site has with other
sites or other
businesses, if any
Current: 30 40 20 8 1
January 2002: 22 42 24 10 1
d. Advertising is
clearly labeled as
advertising and
distinguished from
news and information
on the site
Current: 69 22 5 4 *
January 2002: 59 25 10 4 1
9. Please rate how much you think you can believe
each of the following. (First,/And) (READ AND
ROTATE)? Would you say you believe almost all of
what it says, most of what it says, only some, or
almost nothing of what it says?
Don’t
Almost Only Almost read/ DK/
All Most Some Nothing watch Ref.
a. The national
television news
you watch most
often 22 46 26 4 2 *
b. The daily
newspaper you
read most
often 19 48 25 2 5 *
c. The news site
onthe Internet
you visit most
often 18 50 22 2 8 *
d. Weblogs or
blogs posted
online 3 12 41 15 26 4
10. Some news sites require that you pay a fee or have
a paid subscription to access their news online or to
access particular sections of their sites. Have you
ever paid to get access to news online?
11. Would you consider paying a fee to an online news
site so that you could get access to more in depth
news coverage?
13 Yes
6 Have paid
7 Would consider paying
86 No
1 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 36
12. How much do you trust online news Web sites to
use photographs that are real and have not been
altered to change their meaning or to mislead you?
Would you say you trust these sites a lot, somewhat,
a little, or not at all?
13 A lot
54 Somewhat
21 A little
9 Not at all
3 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
13. Have you ever come across a photograph online
that you believe was substantially altered to
change its meaning or to mislead you?
47 Yes
49 No
3 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
ECOMMERCE SITES
14. Now thinking SPECIFICALLY about Web sites where
you buy or bid on something. For each, I’d like to
know how much you trust this type of site.
First/Next, how much do you trust…(INSERT ITEM.
ROTATE)?
READ FOR FIRST ITEM, THEN AS NECESSARY:
Would you say you trust these types of sites a lot,
somewhat, a little, or not at all?
Not
A A at (Vol.) DK/
lot Some little all N/A Ref.
a. Sites where you
buy a product,
such as a book,
toy, CD, or
clothes 38 39 9 6 7 *
b. Sites where you
participate in
an auction,
such as E-Bay 24 37 12 11 15 *
15. Please tell me if you have ever used the Internet to
do any of the following? Have you ever used the
Internet to….(INSERT ITEM. ROTATE)
Yes
a. Buy a product online, such as a
book, toy, CD, or clothes 77
b. Participate in an online auction,
such as on E-Bay 44
FINANCIAL SERVICES
16. Now thinking SPECIFICALLY about Web sites where
you provide personal financial information, such as
social security number or bank account numbers.
For each, I’d like to know how much you trust this
type of site. First/Next, how much do you
trust…(INSERT ITEM. ROTATE). READ FOR FIRST
ITEM, THEN AS NECESSARY: Would you say you
trust this site a lot, somewhat, a little, or not at all?
Not
A A at (Vol.) DK/
lot Some little all N/A Ref.
a. Sites where you
can do your
banking 43 25 8 15 9 *
b. Sites where you
set up automatic
payment of bills 31 24 10 20 14 1
c. Sites where you
can check your
credit history and
credit score 18 34 12 18 17 1
d. Sites where you
can buy and sell
stock or mutual
funds 17 25 11 21 25 1
e. Sites where you
can apply for
a mortgage or
loan 10 26 13 28 22 1
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 37
17. Please tell me if in the past 12 months you have
used the Internet to do any of the following? Have
you used the Internet to….(INSERT ITEM. ROTATE)
Yes
a. Do banking online, such as pay bills
or open a savings account 45
b. Pay your monthly bills automatically,
such as electric or phone bills, using
a site that is not your bank’s 23
c. Check your credit history and
credit score 24
d. Buy and sell stocks or mutual funds 12
e. Apply for a mortgage or home loan 7
SEARCH ENGINES
18. Have you heard or read about search engines
being paid fees to list some sites more prominently
than others in their search results?
Jan
Current 2002
44 Yes 39
56 No 60
1 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused 1
19. Now please tell me which statement you think best
describes search engines (READ)
31 They show the most relevant results for a
search (OR)
50 They show mostly results that are for
companies that have paid to be listed
prominently
2 (VOL.) Neither
3 (VOL.) Both
14 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
KIDS SITES
20. Are you the parent or guardian of any children
under age 18 now living in your household?
41 Yes
59 No
* (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
21. Are any of these children . . . (READ IN ORDER)
Yes
a. Age five or younger, including
newborns? 20
b. Age 6 to 11? 20
c. 12 to 14 years old? 11
d. 15 to 17 years old? 11
22. {Does your child/Do your children} ever use the
Internet or go online to send and receive email
at home?
Based on those with children age 6-17 (n=428)
64 Yes/Yes at least one does
36 No
0 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
23. Do you ever check to see who {your child
talks/your children talk} with over the Internet,
using Instant Messaging or e-mail?
Based on those with children age 6-17 (n=428)
50 Yes
12 No
36 Children don’t go online
1 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refuseds
24. Some people worry about children using the Internet.
For each one, please tell me how much of a problem
you think this is. (First/Next,) . . . (READ AND
ROTATE)—is this a major problem, a minor problem,
or not a problem with children using the Internet.
Not a DK/
Major Minor problem Ref.
a. Adults seeking out
children in chat rooms 86 9 2 3
b. The large number of
violent video games
that can be played
online 61 25 10 3
c. The ease of viewing
sexually explicit
materials 82 12 4 2
d. Sites that are supposed
to be educational, seem
more about selling
products 42 42 9 8
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 38
25. As you may know, television shows and video
games now have a ratings system similar to movies.
These ratings indicate if the show or game is appropriate
for certain aged children. Do you think it
would be a good idea or a bad idea to require that
Internet Web sites be rated in a similar way?
86 Good idea
12 Bad idea
3 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
CREDIT CARD FRAUD/IDENTITY THEFT
26. Now, please tell me in the past 12 months, how
often have you used your credit card to buy something
on the Internet? (READ IF NECESSARY: On
average how often do you use?)
43 1-5 times
17 6-12 times
6 13-24 times
5 25-49 times
4 50 or more times
26 Don’t use credit card online
1 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
27. When you do this, how much, if at all, do you
worry that someone else might get your credit card
number — a lot, some, not very much, or not at all?
Based on those who use credit card online
Jan June
Current 2002 200022
28 A lot 25 18
39 Some 40 36
22 Not very much 25 28
11 Not at all 10 18
0 (Do Not Read)
Don't know/Refused * 0
(n=1124) (n=1005) (n=489)
28. Why don’t you use your credit card to make purchases
on the Internet? (RECORD OPEN END)
Based on those who haven’t used credit cards
online in past twelve months (n=365)
25 Don’t trust them/the Internet
13 Don’t want my information/credit card
number out there
6 Prefer to shop in person
6 Fear of identity theft
16 Security/Safety issues/Hackers
6 Trying not to use my credit cards
7 Other
16 Don’t have credit card
6 Don’t need to buy anything on the Internet
* (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
29. One new type of crime is when someone gets your
personal information, such as Social Security number
or credit card numbers and then uses that information
illegally, in effect, stealing your identity. How
much do you worry that someone might steal your
identity from personal information that is on the
Internet — a lot, some, not very much, or not at all?
45 A lot
35 Some
13 Not very much
7 Not at all
* (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
30. Do you think the Internet makes this type of identity
theft more common, less common, or don’t you
think the Internet has any impact?
86 More common
5 Less common
5 No impact
3 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
22 June 2000 trends from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Conducted May 19-June 21, 2000. Sample size, n=489 Internet users who used their
credit card online.
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 39
31. We’d like to know if you are doing things differently
because of concerns about identity theft and the
security of personal information that can be found
online. Because of these concerns, have you…
(INSERT. READ AND ROTATE), or not?
DK/
Yes No N/A Ref.
a. Reduced your
overall use of
the Internet 30 68 1 *
b. Stopped buying
things on the Internet 25 59 15 *
c. Stopped giving out
any personal financial
information on the
Internet 53 29 17 1
32. Now, please think just about shopping online.
Because of concerns about the security of your personal
information online, have you… (INSERT.
READ AND ROTATE), or not?
Based on those who haven’t stopped shopping
online (n=914)
DK/
Yes No N/A Ref.
a. Reduced how often
you buy items on the
Internet 29 56 3 12
b. Become more likely to
read a site’s privacy
policy or user
agreement before
making a purchase 54 31 2 12
c. Started using just one
credit card for ALL
items you buy on
the Internet 58 19 10 12
33. Next, I’m going to read a list of things some people
say about the Internet. For each one, please tell me
if you agree or disagree with the statement.
(First/Next,) the Internet. . . (READ AND ROTATE)—
(If Agree/Disagree: Is that strongly or somewhat?)
Agree Disagree
DK/
Strongly Some Some Strongly Ref.
a. Makes it easy
to find the
lowest price
for an item 42 37 11 6 5
b. Makes it easy
to keep up on
the news 55 32 5 3 4
c. Helps me
manage my
money 17 21 24 35 4
d. Has too many
sites that look
legitimate, but
are really just
selling worthless
products or
services, or are
trying to get you
to send money
for nothing 46 31 13 5 5
e. Has too many
sites that look like
news sites, but are
really just promoting
a single point of
view 36 36 14 4 10
f. Has too many
pop up
advertisements 85 9 3 1 2
g. Makes it too easy
for computer
viruses, spyware,
and adware to
get onto your
own computer 74 18 4 2 3
CONSUMER REPORTS WEBWATCH 40
DEMOGRAPHICS
(READ) Finally, I'd like to ask you a few last questions for
statistical purposes only…
GENDER Record Respondent’s Gender
48 Male
52 Female
AGE What is your age?
20 18-29
38 30-49
23 50-64
17 65 and older
2 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
EDUC What is the last grade or class you completed
in school?
(DO NOT READ, BUT CAN PROBE FOR CLARITY IF
NEEDED).
4 None, or grades 1-8
10 High school incomplete (grades 9-11)
32 High school graduate (grade 12 or GED
certificate)
4 Business, Technical, or vocational school AFTER
high school
23 Some college, no 4-year degree (includes
associates degree
17 College graduate (B.S., B.A. or other 4-year degree)
10 Post-graduate training/professional school after
college (Master's degree/Ph.D., Law or Medical
school)
1 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
HISP Are you, yourself, of Hispanic or Latino origin or
descent, such as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or some
other Latin American background?
11 Yes
88 No
1 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
RACE What is your race? Are you white, black, Asian,
or some other race?
IF R SAYS HISPANIC OR LATINO, PROBE: Do you consider
yourself a WHITE (Hispanic/Latino) or a BLACK
(Hispanic/Latino)? IF R DOES NOT SAY WHITE, BLACK
OR ONE OF THE RACE CATEGORIES LISTED, RECORD
AS "OTHER" (CODE 5)
78 White
12 Black or African-American
3 Asian or Pacific Islander
2 Mixed Race
2 Other
3 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
INC Last year, that is in 2004, what was your total
family income from all sources, before taxes. Just stop
me when I get to the right category. (READ)
7 Less than $10,000
9 $10,000 to under $20,000
12 $20,000 to under $30,000
10 $30,000 to under $40,000
9 $40,000 to under $50,000
14 $50,000 to under $75,000
10 $75,000 to under $100,000
8 $100,000 or more
21 (Do Not Read) Don't know/Refused
Thank you for your assistance tonight. Goodbye.

 

 

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