Businesses and governments are under attack from British consumers who do not believe they are doing enough to protect their privacy, according to a survey by security company Symantec.
More than half of Britons were found to have stopped posting personal data online to protect their privacy, with a third giving fake personal data to avoid revealing their real details.
Ilias Chantzos, senior director of government affairs EMEA at Symantec, said: "Businesses need to be more transparent with customers on how they are keeping data secure.
"Security needs to be embedded into a company’s value chain, but it should also be viewed internally as a customer-winning requirement, and not just a cost."
The majority said that it was unfair that companies could profit from trading with their personal data, despite the collection of such information happening in exchange for a free online service.
More than half of Britons surveyed also said there data was worth more than €1,000 (£730), though only three-quarters thought their data had any value to it.
Still more surprising was the fact that as many as a fifth of customers were actually reading the terms and conditions, which in the past have been flagged as obscuring more than they reveal about how a customer’s data is handled.
"Terms and conditions for online services and products are in many cases hidden, long and difficult to understand or even misleading," said Udo Helmbrecht, executive director of the EU Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA).
"We believe that terms and conditions should be more concise, easy to understand and companies should help customers take control of their data."
