Jeremy Clark Technet.com

Apparently so has at least half of the rest of the users on the internet.

As more of everyone’s lives are taking place online the amount of personal information online is also growing. With the explosion of social websites, such as myspace and facebook, more people are starting to be concerned as to what they online identity looks like. Therefore 47% of internet users have searched for their name in a search engine. Of those that have “googled” their name only 3% do it regularly, 22% search occasionally, and 74% have searched at least once. I have to admit I fall in the 22%. Something that I didn’t think about was how much information can be found out about a person online, and how they themselves have divulged. A third of those “googlers” say that telephone numbers, addresses including email, employer information can all be found by a simple search. Talk about a stalkers delight.

From ComputerWorld

• The Confident Creatives: This group accounts for 17% of adult online users. They are mostly young adults who aren’t worried about how available their data is, but they still try to limit personal information.
• The Concerned and Careful: Twenty-one percent of adult users worry about the personal information available about them online and take steps to limit this data.
• The Worried by the Wayside: This group, which comprises 18% of Internet users, are anxious about the information that is available about them online but don’t do anything to limit that information.
• The Unfazed and Inactive: Forty-three percent of online adults don’t worry about the availability of their personal information online and don’t take steps to limit that information.

Source: ComputerWorld