And while more than 58 million U.S. individuals aged 16 and over used the Web at least once in 1997, only 9.5 million purchased a product or service on the Web. In essence, consumers do not trust most Web providers enough to shop online. The recent behavior of commercial Web providers is partly responsible for consumers' attitudes. This is hardly surprising considering that most Web sites don't reveal whether demographic data is being collected or how the data will be used.
Consumers respond accordingly, by either withholding personal data or providing false data.
Virtually all Web users have declined to provide personal information to Web sites at some point, and close to half who have provided data have gone to the trouble of falsifying it. Further, most consumers understand that sites need information about visitors in order to market themselves to advertisers. But commercial Web sites are their own worst enemies. Contrary to conventional wisdom, product discounts, site access and value-added services don't encourage consumers to reveal information. Most Web users are uninterested in selling their personal data to Web sites for monetary incentives or access privileges.