Conspiracy, Controversy or Control?

Which? Online launches annual Internet report into consumers' Internet attitudes

A new Which? Online annual Internet report entitled Conspiracy, Controversy or Control - are we ready for the e-nation? is launched today in the UK. The research, carried out by MORI, explores the attitudes of British consumers and reveals high levels of concern about fraud, online addiction, and pornography on the net.

The majority of consumer fears hinge on protection of personal financial information. Nearly half of respondents believe that the risk of fraud is high. One in three even think that the Internet is a threat to national security.

There also appears to be huge concern over pornography on the Internet and the ease with which children can allegedly access unsolicited, obscene material. Almost 60 per cent of all respondents believe that the Internet undermines the morality of the nation by making pornography and other illegal materials available. Only 13 per cent said they would feel comfortable letting their children use the Internet unsupervised.

Twenty two per cent of respondents feel that the Internet represents a grave threat to traditional family life. They believe that people who spend hours glued to a computer screen are at risk of becoming isolated and in danger of losing their grip on reality.

Alan Stevens, editor for Which? Online explained: It's incredible that the Internet is still generating such strength of feeling amongst consumers. Internet Service Providers and Content Providers have an enormous responsibility to ensure that the Internet is a relatively 'safe' place, but also to guide the consumer and show them the benefits of the Internet."

Dr Mark Griffiths, psychologist and senior lecturer in Psychology at Nottingham Trent University, commented: Unsurprisingly, perceptions of the Internet are based on people's exposure to it, as well as their level of competence in using it. According to Which? Online's research, only 14% of the adult population have access to the Internet, and half of these have been using it for less than a year. So, the Internet is still a relatively unknown medium - and this leads to misunderstandings with users and non-users alike. Hence the doom and gloom view of a nation potentially thrown into crisis by the misunderstood Internet.

Griffiths continued: People need to know that they are being protected from the evil in our society, and the unregulated Internet challenges this comfort zone. However, the Internet presents great benefits to modern living by empowering through access to information - whether that's the latest prices on flights to New York or everything you need to know about a hereditary disease. Uptake will boom - we will see a similar model to the adoption of the television 40 years ago and we survived that quite happily."

In Britain today, approximately seven million individuals have Internet access. Users tend to be male, under 35, living in the South, affluent, employed, and have children living with them.

Age is one of the biggest determinants in Internet usage. Over half are under 35 whereas only seven per cent are over 55. In the US, more and more pensioners are hooking up to the Internet and using e-mail. Some Internet Providers even have more pensioners on their books than people in their teens and twenties.

Stevens continued: There seems little doubt from the report that the Internet is a phenomenon which has far-reaching implications for any consumer. There are many issues associated with the net, but for many the benefits outweigh the potential pitfalls. It is our job to show that the Internet is informative, easy to use, entertaining and provides valuable consumer advice."

A copy of the Which? Online annual Internet report is available from Firefly Communications, priced £20. Please call Natasha Woollard or Charlotte Burnip on 020-7381 4505.

Key Research Findings:

The users:

• Half of the current user population signed on within the past year showing a dramatic increase in the rate of adoption. Nearly as many users came online in the past year as in the four years previous.
• Three out of four users are online less than five hours a week. Five per cent admitted to spending 20 or more hours online per week.
• Education and business purposes were the main reasons for going online. Once online, social activities, such as e-mailing friends and family and accessing leisure information, proved to be popular.
• The survey shows that many consumers are unenthusiastic about shopping online. In fact, 81 per cent have never bought anything over the net.
• If users could change one thing about the Internet, most would make it faster.
• Half of all users still prefer face-to-face meetings, followed by 36 per cent who prefer telephone conversations.
• E-mail has become more popular than the postal service. Nine per cent prefer e-mail and only one per cent prefer the post.
• One in three users claim that the Internet has improved their overall quality of life.
• The majority of users are happy with their Internet Service Provider. Eight per cent who expressed a dislike did so because their ISP was too slow or too expensive.

The non-users:

• Sixty one per cent of non-users - 25 million adults in the wider population - said that they would never go online.
• Half of all non-users do not believe that the Internet is relevant to their needs. A further 30 per cent have resisted because of the cost and 16 per cent for fear of the technology. Ignorance still remains amongst non-users about what is done on the Internet and about how it is used.
• One in four non-users did not know that you need a computer to get online. Only 37 per cent knew that a telephone line was necessary.
• Half of respondents had no idea how much Internet access costs. One in three non-users thought Internet service costs more than £15 per month and one in ten believe that the cost exceeded £30 per month.

General attitudes:

• Seventy two per cent of respondents believe that the Internet should be regulated.
• Seventy five per cent of users and non-users believe that the Internet will become a vital part of future communications.

Technical details

During spring 1998, 2,124 confidential face-to-face interviews were conducted with respondents across Great Britain. Amongst these, no controls were applied to bias the sample towards users or non-users. Respondents were selected at random with the intention of obtaining a sample representative of the general British population. This includes splits, as even as possible, by age, gender, region and socio-economic group.

Subsequently, this sample was boosted by an additional 271 face-to-face interviews with Internet users. In total, 553 Internet users were interviewed to ensure that findings related to this segment of the population were statistically valid. The additional interviews do not skew results relating to the overall respondent base.