Thirty-Seven Percent of Russians Do Not Trust Government or Private Internet Sites

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 20 – According to a poll conducted by the HSE Center for Research on Civil Society and the Non-Commercial Center, 37 percent of Russians say they do not trust government or private internet sites when they have to provide their names to make purchases or otherwise obtain services (iq.hse.ru/news/530410068.html).

            Thirty-eight percent trust only government sites in such cases, while two percent trust only private sites. Twenty percent trust both; but what is striking is that 37 percent do not trust either, a set of attitudes that makes it harder for the government to use the Internet for its purposes such as voting or registration or firms to use it for theirs such as purchases.

            Some people in almost every country are suspicious of the Internet, but Russian rates are especially high and undoubtedly are acting as a brake on this form of social and economic transactions.