Many think that Net is regulated and should be more regulated

  • Four in ten (40%) thought the internet was regulated. Almost half (47%) felt that current levels of internet regulation were ‘too little’, (increasing to 54% among parents), 23% said ‘about right’ and 28% said they didn’t know whether it was about right or not. Since 2010 the proportion of respondents who said they ‘did not know’ has declined (from 38%).
  • Since 2010 opinions that the amount of regulation for the internet is too little have increased from 41% in 2010 to almost half (47%) of UK adults in 2012. This rises to more than half (53%) among parents.

These are findings from today’s Ofcom report on UK audience attitudes to the broadcast media. You can read the full text here.


2 Comments

  • Nick

    I read the Ofcom summary report you linked to, Roger, and could find no definition of “regulation”.

    I wonder what questions were asked in the Ofcom survey. If Ofcom asked questions about regulation without defining the term, it seems likely that a finding such as, “Almost half (47%) felt that current levels of internet regulation were ‘too little’” means little more than, “47% thought that nasty things were available on the internet.”

    Please tell me Ofcom’s survey was better than this!

  • Roger Darlington

    I agree that the term regulation is very vague, but I am assuming that people answering the questions believed regulation to be some form of control by the state or a state agency and probably had in mind the sort of regulation we have for broadcasting.