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  • Majority (60%) of Canadians Don't Believe Enough is being done to Protect Internet Consumers From Cyber Crime -And Half (52%) Feel Threatened

Majority (60%) of Canadians Don't Believe Enough is being done to Protect Internet Consumers From Cyber Crime -And Half (52%) Feel Threatened

Seven in Ten (72%) Say Cyber Criminals Have Less of A Chance of Being Caught Than A Criminal in The Real World and Half (47%) Believe That Cyber Crime Will Become More Serious
Almost Half (48%) Believe That Business Will Come Up With Better Ways To Protect Themselves --And Say Crime On The Internet Makes Them Less Likely To Do Business Over The Web (49%)

Toronto, ON - A new study released today by EDS and Ipsos-Reid indicates that a majority of Canadians (60%) believe not enough is being done to protect Internet consumers against cyber crime. Those areas of the country least likely to believe that enough is being done include Atlantic Canada (69%), Saskatchewan/Manitoba (64%) and Quebec (62%). Only a quarter (24%) believe enough is being done to protect Internet consumers against cyber crime (and 16% "don't know"). Further, a majority (52%) say that they are "threatened or concerned" by cyber crime - with residents in British Columbia leading the way (60%) followed by Saskatchewan/Manitoba (56%) and Quebec (53%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid/EDS poll conducted between March 13th and March 15th, 2001. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 1,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 177 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 1996 Census data.

The poll comes at a time when law enforcement officials in Canada and the United States have been involved in high profile Internet identity thefts and virus attacks.

And, it would appear that Canadians are evenly split as to whether or not the situation will get more serious (47%), while almost as many (48%) believe that businesses will come up with better ways to protect themselves.

Clearly, the fact that a majority (60%) believes that not enough is being done to protect Internet consumers against cyber crime, combined with the belief by a full majority (72%) that online criminals have less of a chance of being caught than a criminal in the real world (18%), has lead to the view of half of Canadians (49%) that crime on the Internet would make them less likely to do business over the web. Almost as many (46%) say it would have effect on their likelihood to do business online.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

John Wright
Senior Vice President
Public Affairs
Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900

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