Net awareness

Nearly two in five adults believe the Internet should be banned "as it is possible to pass pornographic and other illegal transmission through it", according to a MORI survey on behalf of ICL Financial Services.

The survey found that 8 per cent of British computer users, about 1.5 million people, use the Net, and that two-thirds of all adults (65 per cent) have heard of it. Only 17 per cent of those who had heard of it were unable to describe it.

The survey revealed that 41 per cent of British adults have use of a computer, more of them at home (28 per cent) than at work (25 per cent). Southerners are more computer literate than those in the North, accounting for the highest proportion of IT users (46 per cent - compared with 38 per cent in the Midlands and the West and 37 per cent in the North).

A survey for Compaq found 51 per cent of parents would like their child to have access to the Net: "More than two-thirds believe a home computer would improve their children's education and 30 per cent believe this is a key benefit of the Net. But 30 per cent did not know of any benefits from the Net: availability of pornography was the chief fear, while 14 per cent were worried about who their children would communicate with." Few mentioned cost.