Consumers are letting their guard down on privacy and digital security. That’s the general conclusion from a slew of research presented Thursday by KPMG in its latest installment of "Consumers and Convergence.” The use of mobile technology, it reports, has apparently made U.S. consumers more comfortable with safeguards and less concerned about privacy and security on their wireless devices and networks.

KPMG found that 48 percent of consumers were very concerned about privacy when using a mobile device, which was down from 58 percent in 2008. Similar results were found when addressing general digital technology as 54 percent of consumers said they were very concerned about security in this year's survey, compared to 65 percent in 2008. The U.S. findings on this question were lower than the global findings in the survey that consisted of more than 5,000 consumers in 22 countries.

"The evolving U.S. consumers' sentiment about privacy and security speaks to their greater familiarity and understanding of the convergence of computers, mobile devices and content, and how they can use the technology and services to their benefit," said Gary Matuszak, Global Chair, Information, Communications and Entertainment. "Anywhere you turn, you can see examples of this, whether it's a person checking their email, texting, buying movie tickets, watching a video, listening to music, updating their Facebook status, or checking their bank account balance on their mobile phone."

The KPMG survey also found a significant change in the attitude of U.S. Consumers toward personally identifiable information. In the latest survey, about half of the consumers said they would be willing to allow their (mobile or desk top) online usage and personal profile information to be tracked, if this would result in lower costs. This compares to one-third who were willing in 2008.

The U.S. consumers' willingness to negotiate the use of their personal information appears to translate to a willingness to accept advertising when accessing online content/services in return for lower prices or free content and services, though there is a clear distinction between advertising on a personal computer and on a mobile device. About half of the U.S. consumers surveyed (five percent less than globally) would accept advertisements on their PCs, but only 28 percent in the U.S. (42 percent globally) would accept them on their mobile devices.

This attitude even extends to medical records. KPMG asked consumers how comfortable they will feel accessing personal medical information on mobile devices in the next 3 to 5 years. About one-fourth of U.S. consumers surveyed said they would be comfortable, while nearly four in 10 would not. Globally, the responses were the opposite with about 40 percent comfortable, and about one-quarter not.

Other key findings from KPMG:

• Paid content attitudes may be shifting as well. In the U.S. about one-quarter said they are now willing to pay for access to frequently used online content whether by mobile device or desk top computer, compared to 43 percent of consumers globally. India and China were the clear global leaders at 65 percent and 63 percent respectively. Least willing to pay are consumers in the Netherlands, at only 6 percent, followed by Ireland with 12 percent, Canada with 15 percent, and Germany with 17 percent.
• While American consumers have become more comfortable using their mobile phones for financial transactions, the U.S. still trails much of the world in the use of mobile devices for financial transactions. More than 10 percent of the U.S. consumers indicated in the new survey that they used their mobile phone to buy something from a retailer's mobile site. This doubles the 2008 responses but trails global consumers (28 percent) who bought from retail mobile sites.
• Chatting and instant messaging, after having a 4-5 percent mobile phone usage rate in 2007 and 2008, and talking over the internet (eg. Skype) now are mobile phone mainstays, with 30 percent and 49 percent of U.S. consumers naming these uses respectively in KPMG's new consumers and convergence survey. American consumers in KPMG's survey accessed maps and directions on their mobile phones three times more often than in 2008. Social networking on mobile phones hovered at 1-2 percent until this year when 10 percent of U.S. consumers said they use their mobile phone for social networking.