Research out of the U.K. funded by the Economic and Social Research Council has found, perhaps not surprisingly, that people are more willing to share more info about themselves on web sites run by organizations they consider trustworthy. But it’s more than that: A lot has to do with how those sites are setup and and the sorts of questions they ask (for example, people might be more inclined to give info about their income if the salary ranges listed are wider rather than narrower). “Even people who have previously demonstrated a high level of caution regarding online privacy will accept losses to their privacy if they trust the recipient of their personal information,” says Adam Joinson, who led the study.
More on the ‘Privacy and Self-Disclosure Online’ project here .
