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broadband Business online safety

ONS’s “Social Trends Spotlight On: e-Society” (Internet Access)

A few statistics jump out of the page of the Office Of National Statistics (ONS) report entitled Social Trends Spotlight On: e-Society.

In 2010 73% of UK households have internet access. If we take the 2009 statistic that only 90% of these had “broadband” then we can assume that around two thirds of the country has broadband. Coincidentally 64% of children aged 5 to 15 had used the internet for schoolwork or homework at least once a week. One might interpret this as saying that the 1/3 of children without broadband were unable to access the internet for schoolwork. I realise that is a bit too simplistic but is certainly does highlight a problem.

87% of French people are “very worried” that their child might become the victim of online grooming.  This is in marked contrast with the UK where the number is only 32% (Slovakia is 10%!).  There are a few ways of reading this:

  • Either online grooming is rife in France or
  • the French as a nation are insecure/paranoid or
  • The Brits are too lackadaisical and not paranoid enough

Whatever the answer either the Slovakians have never heard of grooming or they are the most relaxed nation on the internet.

Finally it was interesting to see what people do with their internet connection. There is a lot of day to day living stuff in there (banking, shopping, travel arranging etc) that underlines the message that the world is going virtual.  Watching web TV is only the ninth most popular activity.  As an ISP I can tell you that is it the top of the rankings in terms of what it costs to deliver.

Read the report yourselves here.

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