Increasing Privacy Concerns Could Lead To Business Changes In 2016

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- A new study is predicting 2016 will be the year consumers take their privacy back, or at least try to.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Forrester Research is forecasting two trends, consumers demanding greater online protection, and regulators cracking down on companies.

The study also finds consumers more willing to pay to see fewer ads. Companies are already anticipating the move with so-called "fremium" models which offer ad-free subscription services, such as Google Contributor, which lets users pay between two and 10 dollars  a month, to see fewer ads across the sites they visit on their various browsers and devices.

Even though Mark Zuckerberg has said he'd never charge for Facebook, Forrester says study finds U.S. users would be willing to pay $30-$60 a year for an ad-free version of Facebook.