More than half of Americans used the Internet as a political resource during the 2008 election, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Some 55 percent of adults and 74 percent of all Internet users went online for news and information about the election or to communicate with others about the race.
Nearly half (45%) of Americans watched online videos related to politics or the election. Young adults led the way in their online video consumption, with close to half of all 18-29 year olds watching online political videos.
EU Probes UK Over Internet Privacy
The European Commission said on Tuesday it is taking legal action against the United Kingdom for not adequately protecting the privacy of British Internet users.
EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said the action had to do with how Internet service providers used Phorm technology to send users targeted ads based on the sites they visited.
YouTube Popular With Japanese Internet Users
In February, nearly 74 percent of Japan’s online population visited an entertainment site, according to a new study from comScore.
Japanese Internet users spent nearly 15 percent of their total online time during the month on these sites, making the entertainment category one of the most popular and engaging content categories.
Bill Lets Obama Turn Off the Internet
Two bills introduced giving the President the power to deem a private network part of the nation’s critical infrastructure and shut it down for cybersecurity reasons also gives the Commerce Secretary the power to access network data outside of oversight.
France Has The Third Largest Internet Population In Europe
In February, more than 35 million people in France accessed the Internet from a home or work computer, up 19 percent over the previous year, according to comScore.
French Internet users spent a combined total of 932 million hours online in February, an average of 27 hours per person. Instant messaging was the most popular activity with total share of time spent at 14.3 percent, followed by social networking at 5.7 percent. Together the two categories accounted for one out of every five minutes spent online during the month.
The Internet Said What About Me?
Articles and famous profiles, sure, but this is personal. PersonRatings.com is a website where visitors can anonymously review and rate other people. Unlike the famed and apishly simple HotOrNot, it’s highly personal with names and reputations on the line as the crowd rates a target’s intelligence, sexiness, classiness, and sense of humor, among other attributes.
Australia’s Internet Blacklist Revealed
Recently, a bit of a stink was made over Australia’s secret website black list and threatened $11,000 fines for those linking to sites on the secret list. That list is secret no longer, and reveals some disturbing information.
Users Expect Open Internet Access
The majority (91%) of Internet users expect their Internet service provider to avoid blocking or limiting their service, according to a new survey commissioned by Google, Yahoo and Skype.
The news comes as the European Parliament and EU governments are considering a major telecoms reform package. Some elements of the package could affect users rights by allowing ISPs to limit access to Web sites or applications, or to prioritize some Internet traffic in favor of their own partner’s traffic.
U.S. Mobile Internet Use Sees Big Increase
The number of people using their mobile device to access news and information online more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009, according to comScore.
Among the 63.2 million people who accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, 22.4 million (35%) did so daily; more than double the size of the audience last year.
Congressman, Open Access Guru Spar Over Internet Publishing
US Representative John Conyers (D-MI) is on the defensive regarding legislation that would prevent the public posting of taxpayer funded scientific research on the Internet. Opponents argue the bill is a step back for science and that the powers that be behind it are shilling for the paper publishing industry.