U.K. Internet Community Growing
The British online community is growing healthily, with more than 9 million U.K. homes now connected to the Internet. According to NetValue, this number accounts for 37.2 percent of all households having an Internet connection. In the last six months, 1.4 million homes got connected. Last year 26.6 percent of
U.K. homes boasted online connectivity. There were also 1.4 active users per household, NetValue reported, boosting the home Internet population past the 12 million mark for the first time ever. NetValue's research also shows that women are getting connected in ever growing numbers as well. By March there were just under 5 million U.K. women using the Internet. In addition, 3.67 million had visited an e-commerce site during that time, 320,000 more than made such visits the previous month.
Singaporeans Beware E-Addiction
Thousands of Singapore residents are vulnerable to Internet addiction, says Ho Peng Kee, the minister of state for law and home affairs. "With the proliferation of personal computers at home and at work, the phenomenon of online addiction has emerged," Ho said in a recent statement. "Behavioral addictions like Internet addiction can destroy the user's health, relationships, happiness, and ultimately, his spirit." A 1998 study shows that nearly 46,000 of the city-state's 4 million people could be caught in the grips of an e-addiction. Ho announced that the government would soon be launching a "community health management program" to help those addicted to drugs and gambling, as well as "sex and love, pornography and the Internet." Singapore residents are among the most connected in Far East.
Would the Correct Numbers Please Show Up?
A recent FT.com article disputes research that says 90 percent of adults in the United Kingdom (about 43 million people) are active users of mobile phone services. Not so, according to competing studies. Instead, numbers released by Gartner Research and Carphone Warehouse indicate that some research reports are overstating the number of mobile phone users by as much as 25 percent. Instead, a Carphone representative suggested that customers that are replacing current handsets are possibly being tallied as new users.
Child Porn Biggest Offender Online
Complaints to the Australian Broadcasting Authority about offensive online material have increased 44 percent in the past year, Yahoo! Reports, with the ABA receiving 290 complaints during the last half of 2000. Among those complaints were 203 for illegal or highly offensive material, while 65 percent contained child pornography or pedophile-related material. During that time frame, the ABA ordered the closure of 67 sites. The group also recommended that filter software makers update their blacklist with the
names of another 136 extra-territorial sites.