Microsoft recently commissioned research in two cities to try to understand how different types of consumer, from teens to professionals to baby boomers, think about privacy.

During the recently held Data Privacy Day in San Francisco, Microsoft participated in a panel discussion with privacy experts from the California Office of Privacy Protection, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Intel and MySpace.

According to Microsoft's Chief privacy strategist Peter Cullen, breaches impact consumer trust and is causing increased concern. (Source: google.com)

Microsoft and other organizations realize that without trust, the online economy only gets worse for everyone. Data Privacy Day represented a global opportunity for organizations and individuals to come together and discuss how to better educate consumers about data privacy issues.

Cullen said that there was a surprising degree of consensus on three things, including a sense of resignation that once people put information online, it's gone forever. Consumers understand that there are risks, but they don't really understand what those risks are. (Source: google.com)

Cullen also said the survey's findings reaffirmed that corporations need to step up their own consumer education efforts and deploy their own sound policies to make sure that information is protected and not used inappropriately.

Consumers surveyed said they take steps to protect their privacy, but they don't understand how privacy and security technologies work or what protection they're providing. They also acknowledged that they have some responsibility for their own online security and privacy and want more control over their personal data. The problem is they don't feel they understand how to do it.

Results of the Microsoft study can be found at The Consumer Privacy Awareness Project.

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