Despite high-profile data breaches, customers stay

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Week after week, thieves break into corporate computer systems to steal customer lists, email addresses and credit-card numbers. Large data breaches get overshadowed by even larger ones.

Yet people are turning over personal information to online retailers, social networks and other services in growing numbers. The point at which people lose trust in the websites they deal with appears further away than ever before, if it exists at all, as shopping, socializing and gaming online becomes deeply embedded in modern life.

People have come to accept that sharing information is the price of a meaningful, connected life online — even if they don’t like it.

“We are clearly schizophrenic about this technology,” said Jim Dempsey, an expert on Internet privacy at the Center for Democracy & Technology. “We love it, we use it, we expect it to work, and we’ve woven it into our daily lives, professionally, socially and personally. But we really don’t trust it, and we do get upset when our data is lost or stolen.”

Companies collecting the personal details have little incentive to offer the best privacy protections. So far, people haven’t demanded that companies do better by walking away from their gadgets, online retailers or social networks.

Jim Pachetti, 47, a laid-off carpenter looking at an iPhone at an Apple store outside Buffalo, N.Y., said he’s resigned to the fact that breaches happen.

James McCartney, an identity theft expert, said his smartphone has become an integral part of his life and business, despite the security concerns.

It may take government regulation to force companies to do better.

The Federal Trade Commission is urging Web browser makers to build “Do Not Track” tools to let consumers stop advertisers from studying their online activity in order to target pitches. The Commerce Department has called on Congress to adopt ground rules for companies that collect consumer data online for marketing. Several lawmakers have introduced privacy bills.

The number of records exposed in data breaches is staggering — more than half a billion in the past six years, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

At the same time, people are sharing more online. More than half a billion people are on Facebook, and billions of people search Google and Yahoo each month and accept tracking data files known as cookies.