The Accenture report said the United States is “fairly
advanced in how it deals with privacy and security of
personal information,” citing the E-Government Act of 2002
and progress in implementing e-authentication. However,
the survey a high level of concern among U.S. citizens
about privacy when dealing with the government online on
matters such as passport, health insurance and medical
information.
“Most notably, U.S. citizens expressed the clearest
opposition of any country to sharing their social security
number (74 percent opposed). This strong negative
attitude is likely due to U.S. Citizens’ high level of
awareness about identity theft and the criticality of the
social security number in this regard,” the report said.
“Moving forward, the U.S. government will need to take
additional steps–not just in terms of infrastructure and
policies, but also in public education–to reassure the
public about the security of their personal information.
Greater public confidence is essential to move toward
even greater cross-governmental collaboration and
integrated and coherent delivery of services,” it said.
