Some posts are just here to illustrate browsing coincidences, that make a point:

New Zealanders are more concerned with identify theft than other forms of personal, financial, national or internet security.

Stuff

VS

According to the Internet Crime Complaint Center and reported in U.S. News and World Report, auction fraud and non-delivery of items purchased are far and away the most common Internet crimes. Identity theft is way down near the bottom.

Bruce Schneier

Perhaps that is rational, perhaps losing one's identity, despite the lesser likelihood is worse than the more likely but potentially less impactful events. Maybe. I'd be impressed if those surveyed had put that much work into it. More likely I suspect the reason is more about the information supplied to the random samples by the "selection for sales" of commercial media.

Even worse:

A new survey from the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, The National Poll on Children’s Health, has found that US parents rate Internet Safety as being a more serious health threat to children than school violence, sexually transmitted diseases, abuse and neglect.

Yes, the Internet.

No, I’m not kidding.

TechCrunch

I don't blame people for making decisions based on the rough formula of:

^{IntensityxImpact}/_{Understanding}

but let's not forget that is the formula and the less you know, the more the drum is beaten, the more vile the outcome, the more it will loom in our primate brains as a real threat.