---
title: "“Privacy Online: How Americans feel… the ways they are responding to new threats … and why they are changing their online behavior”"
description: "Seven basic things to understand about Americans and their privacy in the internet age."
date: "2005-11-03"
authors:
  - name: "Lee Rainie"
    job_title: "Former Director, Internet and Technology Research"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/lee-rainie/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2005/11/03/privacy-online-how-americans-feel-the-ways-they-are-responding-to-new-threats-and-why-they-are-changing-their-online-behavior/"
categories:
  - "Online Privacy & Security"
  - "Political Issues"
  - "Privacy Rights"
tags:
  - "Cloud Computing"
  - "Government"
  - "Privacy"
  - "Safety"
---

# “Privacy Online: How Americans feel… the ways they are responding to new threats … and why they are changing their online behavior”

Here are seven basic things to understand about privacy in the context of debates in late 2005 about data security, concerns about identity theft, and the proliferation of privacy proposals at the state and federal level.