Will privacy concerns thwart personalization efforts?

Computerworld - Does Web site personalization improve our online experiences or is it a code word for "behavioral profiling?"

Simply stated, Web site personalization provides content and structures online pages to reflect individual users' characteristics, preferences and interests. Personalization is a means of targeting the consumer's needs and making online interactions more useful and relevant.  Privacy advocates argue that the tracking of individual behaviors potentially diminishes our privacy rights.

It's time to ask consumers what they think. Do they see a conflict between personalization and privacy? Are they concerned about what happens when they customize an Internet home page?

A recent Ponemon Institute survey examined the relationship between consumers' privacy preferences and their attitudes about the personalization of Internet content. Our findings provide evidence that personalization is not viewed as a diminishment of privacy. In fact, it appears that people who care the most about privacy see real value in receiving content that is tailored to their interests and purchasing preferences.
 
Our survey reports differences among three groups of consumers in terms of how important they view protection of their personal information. We call these groups privacy-centric, privacy-sensitive and privacy-complacent. We have seen the following pattern of privacy preferences for adult-aged Americans:

* About 8% of Americans appear to be privacy-centric. Daily events that reduce confidence in their sense of privacy or the safety of their sensitive personal information will have a significant impact on their actions.

* About 72% of Americans appear to be privacy-sensitive. Privacy is important to them, but they will not change their behaviors or information-sharing practices.

* About 20% of Americans appear to be privacy-complacent. They really don't care very much about the sharing or selling of their most sensitive personal information, such as Social Security numbers.

The survey is based on responses from 4,782 adults who said they use the Internet at least one hour each day. Only 13% of those responding said they personalize their Internet home page using My Yahoo, Google, MSN or another option.  We found no evidence that privacy affects the adoption of personalization.

However, there are different viewpoints regarding use of names in an e-mail greeting or advertisement. Thirty percent of the privacy-centric group saw this as being acceptable, while 68% of the privacy-complacent group found it OK.
 
In addition, only 33% of privacy-centric respondents said they wish to receive targeted ads or promotions, even if they match specific tastes or preferences. In contrast, 50% of the privacy-sensitive and 64% of privacy-complacent groups view the receipt of relevant ads as a benefit.

However, 68% of privacy-centric respondents said they like to receive targeted Internet content such as news stories, sports scores and weather forecasts and so forth.  Respondents who are privacy-sensitive and privacy-complacent have even higher preferences for such content (75% and 73%, respectively).