A new study from the University of Southern California's Center for the Digital Future released yesterday found that for the first time in years there was a sharp increase in online privacy concerns amongst Americans, with 61% of adults concerned about privacy threats when buying online.

Hardly a surprise, when 2007 is now being described as the worst year on record for data breaches. And one of the reasons it’s only going to get worse is called “data utilization and optimization.”

There’s a constant battle in most businesses between business managers who want greater access to customer data so they can learn as much as possible about customers and make more money from them; and IT and security managers who know that the more people who have access to data, the greater the risk of that data going walkabout.

One of the few ways you have to protect yourself is to give away as little personal information as possible. Are you more worried about privacy and data breaches than you were last year? Let me know.