NetSTAR

TOKYO April 22th, 2008

This report presents the findings from the 7th “Survey of Home Internet Use,” conducted by NetSTAR Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Noboru Ogawara; hereinafter “NetSTAR”), a developer of URL filtering product technologies and services, also involved in the collection, categorization, and delivery of URL lists.

NetSTAR has been conducting a series of surveys since 2004 to study the reality of home Internet use by parents and children. The latest survey asked approximately 2000 parents about Internet use by themselves and by their children. The findings can be largely summarized by the following three points.

(1) Parents mainly use PCs to access the Internet. Most "view but do not own” BBS/blogs.
More than 90% of the participants stated that they use their “PC” as the primary tool for using the Internet. On the other hand, mobile phones suffered in popularity as an Internet device, with about 60% using their mobile phone for “email”, and less than 30% for other contents. With regards to how they use the Internet, only 20% operate their own blog, and less than 10% operate a BBS or a profile page. Almost 30% do not even view BBS, blogs, or SNS. Last year’s survey* indicated that the percentage of “middle school students that use the Internet from their mobile phones” and “middle school students that have their own blog” were in excess of 40%. These surveys clearly show that the parents and children differ significantly in both their method and purpose of Internet use.

(2) With regards to use of communication sites by their children, parents showed concerns not only for posted contents, but also for links and advertisements.
Top "Parental Concerns about Use of Communication Sites by Children" included abusive postings and site management structure (monitoring, deletion upon request), as well as “links to external websites inappropriate for children” and “contents of advertisement banners”. The survey also showed that female respondents are generally more “concerned” than the male respondents.

(3) Free filtering services have become more widely acknowledged, but their workings are yet to be adequately understood.
As a result of active promotions by related parties, almost 50% of the respondents were aware that free filtering services are being provided for mobile phones. However, less than 20% had a correct understanding on how the websites are actually restricted. For proper utilization of the services, ongoing educational efforts will need to be made on their workings.

NetSTAR will make use of its survey’s findings to facilitate the dissemination and better understanding of filtering services for home and mobile Internet use, and will continue to provide its URL lists to various products and services in a continuous effort to realize an Internet environment that is safe for all users.
*NetSTAR’s 6th “Survey on Home Internet Use”, July 2007

■ Survey Background
Today, the Internet environment surrounding our children is festered with various problems, such as crimes associated with communication sites. The latest survey aimed to recognize the current reality of home Internet use and grasp the existing issues, so as to provide more effective countermeasures.

■ Survey Method
Under the request of NetSTAR, Macromill, Inc. conducted an online survey on March 21 and 22, 2008. The respondent body was comprised of parents whose eldest child was in grades 1 thru 9. 2,060 valid responses were collected. The demographic breakdown of the respondent body is as follows:
By child’s academic grade:
-Fathers of children in grades 1 thru 3: 10%
-Mothers of children in grades 1 thru 3: 10%
-Fathers of children in grades 4 thru 6: 10%
-Mothers of children in grades 4 thru 6: 10%
-Fathers of children in grade 7: 10%
-Mothers of children in grade 7: 10%
-Fathers of children in grade 8: 10%
-Mothers of children in grade 8: 10%
-Fathers of children in grade 9: 10%
-Mothers of children in grade 9: 10%
By age group:
-20s: 0.6%
-30s: 35.0%
-40s: 60.7%
-50s: 3.6%
-60s: 0.1%

■ Primary Findings and Comments
▼ Parents mostly access the Internet with their PC, not their mobile phone.
-While many own multiple Internet devices, over 90% use their PC as the primary tool for Internet access. (See Graph 1.)
-Website access is not a popular usage of mobile phones, with email accounting for over 60% of mobile Internet use. (See Graph 2 and Graphs 3.)
-With regards to the duration of Internet access, over 70% of parents spend “1 hour or longer” per day on their PC, but only slightly above 10% spend “1 hour or longer” per day on their mobile phone. (See Graph 4.)

▼ Few parents use communication sites on a regular basis.
-30% do not use blogs/BBS/SNS at all.
-Only 20% have their own blog, less than 10% have their own BBS and/or profile page. (See Graph 5.)
-At over 60%, “price comparison sites” is the most popular type of communication sites used, followed by “BBS by major portals” and “2ch.net”. (See Graph 6 and Graphs 7.)

▼ 40% of the children use the Internet in grades 1 thru 3, 70% in grades 4 thru 6, and over 80% in grades 7 and above. (See Graph 8.)
-Responses from parents indicate that most children use a family PC, regardless of their age.
-Utilization of mobile Internet increases with age. According to parents, in grade 9, over 10% use their mobile phone as the primary Internet device. (See Graph 9 and Graphs 10.)

▼ 80% of parents claim to have a grasp of what their child is using the Internet for.
-While many state that they are aware of what kinds of websites their child is accessing, less than 10% have an actual understanding of services that are popular amongst the children, such as blogs, Mobile Game Town, and profile sites. (See Graph 11 and Graphs 12.)
-As a whole, over 60% of the parents answered “No” to whether their child uses communication sites. For children in grades 6 and below, less than 10% of the parents think that their child is using communication sites. However, the percentage increases with the children’s grade level, reaching 40% at grade 9. (See Graph 13 and Graphs 14.)

▼ There is diverse parental concern on the use of communication sites by children.
-Parents’ concerns were widely dispersed, from “notable presence of abusive comments” and “appropriateness of the management structure” to “contents of advertisements” and “contents of linked websites”. (See Graph 15.)
-Parents with lower Internet proficiency and mothers have a general tendency to be concerned with a greater range of issues, such as “abuse for juvenile prostitution” and “lack of preventative measures against posting private information”. (See Graph 16 and Graphs 17.)

▼ Over 70% of the respondents have some kind of a family rule regarding Internet use.
-Households with younger children have a greater tendency to have family rules, for example on “time spent” and “websites used”. (See Graph 18 and Graphs 19.)

▼ Few parents have proper knowledge of filtering technologies.
- For both PCs and mobile phones, filtering services (products) were most commonly, and incorrectly, acknowledged as something that “differentiates good and bad sites”. Furthermore, over 20% responded that they “have not heard of filtering services”. It can be said that while many have heard of “filtering”, the concept is still poorly understood. (See Graph 20.)

▼ 40% of the parents know that mobile Internet filtering is offered as a free service.
-About 30% of the parents of children in grades 1 thru 3 “know about free services”. The percentage increases with the children’s age, and exceeds 50% at grade 8. Also, parents with higher Internet proficiency showed greater awareness of the service. (See Graph 21 and Graphs 22.)
-At over 50%, greatest number of parents “do not know” how mobile Internet filtering services restrict accesses to websites. Only 10% answered correctly that “categorized lists are used”. (See Graph 23.)
-Over 60% of the parents recognize the “Adult” category as restricted. However, less than 40% were aware of the other restricted categories, and only 10% were aware that “Community Sites” are actually restricted. (See Graph 24.)

■ About NetSTAR, Inc.
NetSTAR specializes in the development of URL filtering engine, and in the collection, categorization, and delivery of URL lists.
Its URL lists boast the largest market share in Japan for corporate filtering products, at well over 40%, and are also used widely by home filtering services provided by ISPs and broadband routers.
In the mobile industry, in which the significance of filtering services for juvenile protection is quickly being recognized, NetSTAR’s services are adopted by all mobile phone operators in Japan.
For more information, visit http://netstar.jp.