#Tech » How Much Do Americans Really Care About Online Privacy? Comments Feed alternate alternate Tech WordPress.com TIME Time.com MY ACCOUNT SIGN IN SIGN OUT SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE Home U.S. Politics World Business Tech Health Science Entertainment Newsfeed Living Sports History The TIME Vault Magazine Ideas Parents TIME Labs Money LIFE The Daily Cut Photography Videos TIME Shop The 100 Most Influential People The 25 Best Inventions of 2015 Future of Giving Global Trade Know Right Now Next Generation Leaders Person of the Year 2015 Top 10 Everything of 2015 Top of the World A Year In Space Subscribe Newsletters Feedback Privacy Policy Your California Privacy Rights Terms of Use Ad Choices Ad Choices RSS TIME Apps TIME for Kids Advertising Reprints and Permissions Site Map Help Customer Service © 2016 Time Inc. All rights reserved. Subscribe Sign InSubscribe Security & Privacy How Much Do Americans Really Care About Online Privacy? Given all the talk about protecting our personal privacy, is anyone seriously doing something about it? Well, sort of. By Techlicious / Fox Van Allen @techliciousJan. 24, 20140 * Share + + + + + + [pin_it_button.png] * Read Later + [white-15.png] Send to Kindle + + * Email * Print * Share + Facebook + Twitter + Tumblr + LinkedIn + StumbleUpon + Reddit + Digg + Mixx + Delicious + Google+ * Comment Follow @techland Matters of online privacy seem to be dominating headlines now more than ever before. But given all the talk about protecting our personal privacy, is anyone seriously doing something about it? Well, sort of: According to a new poll by GlobalWebIndex published byThe Guardian, 56% of Americans believe the Internet is eroding their personal privacy, but only a quarter of us are actually using tools like Tor to disguise our identity. The survey, which is actually just compiled market research data, shows that the United States is actually lagging behind the rest of the world in using privacy features and tools. Only 17% of Americans use VPNs – Virutal Private Networks – so we can browse the web anonymously. That compares to 38% of those in Brazil, 36% in Thailand, and 34% in China, India and Mexico. The results of this new poll don’t quite line up with past results we’ve seen. A Pew Internet & Digital Life poll last year reported that a full 86% of us “have taken steps online to remove or mask our digital footprints.” Of course, the Pew poll counted simple efforts like clearing browser histories in its tally, which offers only very limited privacy protection. Still, regardless of what everyone else thinks about their online privacy, you should take a more active role in protecting yours. Check out these 11 simple ways to protect your privacy to get started – there are good tips there for computer novices and experts alike. And remember to take privacy especially seriously any time you’re on public WiFi – it’s easy for bad guys to peek into your computer and send viruses at coffee shops and other public locations. This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Techlicious. 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