About a third of U.S. adults have modified their behavior in some way to protect their privacy.

Nearly a third, 30%, of U.S. adults have taken a step to hide from the government the information their Internet and phone activities generate, according to a Pew Research Center study.

The findings are part of a year-long Pew study of consumers’ views and actions since they learned of government surveillance programs to monitor phone and Internet use.

The actions consumers have taken to hide their activities include changing their privacy settings on social networks (17%), using social media less often (15%), avoiding certain mobile apps (15%), uninstalling apps (13%), talking to others in person more than online or by phone (14%), and avoiding using certain terms in web communications (13%).

Among adults who are aware of the surveillance programs, 25% say they’ve changed the way they use particular technologies a “great deal” or “somewhat.” The technology consumers modified their use of the most was email (18%) and search engines (17%).

The survey findings also show that consumers aren’t using tactics or remain unaware of how they could make online activities more private. 53% have not considered or adopted using a search engine that does not keep track of the user’s search history; and another 13% do not know this is possible. 46% have not considered or adopted using email encryption programs; and another 31% do not know these programs exist.

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While a portion of U.S. consumers have taken actions to hide their Internet and phone information, the majority of consumers believe it is acceptable for the government to monitor the actions of some others, with 82% saying it is OK to monitor the communications of suspected terrorists, 60% saying it is OK to monitor the communications of American leaders, 60% saying it is OK to monitor foreign leaders and 54% saying it is OK to monitor communications from foreign citizens.

At the same time, 57% say it is not OK to for the government to monitor the communications of U.S. citizens, but further survey data reveals that U.S. adults aren’t all that worried about having the government look at their own data or electronic communications. The percentages of U.S. adults that say they are “not very” or “not at all concerned” about having their technology use monitored by the government are as follows: email messages, 54%; search engines, 53%; cell phones, 54%; mobile apps, 49%; social media, 47%.

The results in the “Americans’ Privacy Strategies Post-Snowden” Pew report came from 475 adults who completed a survey and 59 adults who participated in an online focus group.

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