One in two accepts lack of privacy on the web

Eight out of ten Internet users are very concerned about protecting their privacy.More and more Swiss people are online. "Switzerland is one of the top countries worldwide in terms of Internet penetration," says Prof. Michael Latzer from the Media Change & Innovation department of the IPMZ at the University of Zurich. He and his team conducted the "World Internet Project - Switzerland" for the second time after 2011. There has also been an above-average increase in the proportion of users who surf the Internet on mobile devices in the last two years: Around 39 percent of the population and almost half of Internet users are also online on the move. This doubling of mobile Internet use is mainly driven by smartphones. At home, 44 percent of users are increasingly using the Internet for business purposes (+13 percentage points). Despite the high penetration rate, four out of ten Swiss self-assess that they are "not at all or only somewhat" involved in the information society.Income and education define access to digital SwitzerlandA digital divide in Switzerland is evident in terms of Internet access along the lines of income (clearly in mobile use), education and employment level. Differences based on age and gender have become less significant: "A remarkable 70 percent of 60- to 74-year-old Swiss men and women use the Internet today, and overall about the same number of women as men," says Latzer. By region, Italian-speaking Switzerland lags behind. What's more, one million Swiss (aged 14 and over) still do not surf the World Wide Web, citing a lack of interest and benefit.Concern remains highTrust and concerns about Internet use have remained essentially the same in Switzerland in recent years: "At least half of the Internet content is rated as credible by three quarters of the population," summarizes Prof. Latzer. Professional offerings - especially those from SRG and the government - are rated as particularly trustworthy, those from online social networks and blogs the least. Around 40 percent of users would be "very or extremely concerned" about using a credit or debit card on the Internet; with five percent having actually been victims of credit card fraud on the Internet.Companies are still significantly more distrusted (40%) than the government (26%) when it comes to data control. "This assessment has remained unchanged compared to 2011, despite the NSA scandal," says the media expert. Basically, young Swiss men and women - and also men - are far less concerned than older people. Eight out of ten Internet users are very concerned about protecting their privacy, and 45- to 59-year-olds are more likely to call for regulatory restrictions on corporate data collection than younger people. Resignedly, one in two users believes that we have to accept that there is no privacy on the Internet anymore.Information more important than entertainmentThe Internet has further expanded its role as a multipurpose media infrastructure for information and entertainment, for doing business and socializing in Switzerland. Use for information purposes - with product and travel information and news leading the way - again outstripped entertainment in 2013; in this area, video and music portals are at the top of the rankings. Online social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are used noticeably more frequently, the latter especially by younger users. Almost six out of ten surfers use social online networks, two thirds of them daily. Private online social networks are three times more popular than professional ones such as Xing. E-commerce use is stagnating at a high level: 78 percent look for product information, 67 buy online and 63 make price comparisons online.Women rate their Internet skills lower than menThe Internet is used differently depending on age: Younger people are more active when it comes to interactive applications, user-produced content and entertainment; conversely, older people use the Internet more for electronic shopping and online banking. A gender difference no longer exists today in terms of access to the Internet, but still in terms of the intensity with which information and entertainment are used, the self-assessment of Internet skills and the feeling of belonging to the information society: all these are lower among women than among men.Internet gains importance over traditional mediaCompared with other media, the Internet has become more relevant for information and entertainment since 2011. For users, it is the top source of information - on a par with newspapers. For young Internet users (14 to 29 years), the Internet has overtaken the other media. For entertainment, television and radio continue to dominate, with television ahead of the Internet among younger users.Digital politicking with a lot of restraintThe great skepticism in Switzerland about digital participation in political processes has continued. In an international comparison, Switzerland is one of the countries with the greatest doubts about the possibilities of digital democratization: Only a vanishing minority of four to seven percent are strongly convinced of positive effects of the Internet on democratic quality. The Internet is therefore little used for participation in political discussions; even among Internet users, 71 percent discuss political issues exclusively offline. Only half of those surveyed also think it is right to be able to freely criticize the government on the Internet, and a third clearly reject this.