NetSTAR

TOKYO April 17th, 2009

NetSTAR, Inc. (headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; president: Noboru Ogahara; hereinafter “NetSTAR”), a developer of URL filtering product technologies and services, also involved in the collection, categorization, and delivery of URL lists, hereby presents the findings from its 9th “Survey of Home Internet Use.”

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 was conducted online in late March, and was responded to by approximately 2,000 parents of children in grades 1 through 12. The findings can be largely summarized by the following three points:

(1) 80% of parents believe that “banning” mobile phones from schools will not resolve online issues
Over 60% of the parents responded in favor of the recent trend to disallow children to bring their mobile phones to school. At the same time, however, over 80% responded that such a policy will not fully resolve the issues children experience online. Amongst the reasons listed were “use of the Internet outside of school and/or with devices other than mobile phones” and the “need for education on Internet use”, indicating that many parents are demanding a more fundamental solution.

(2) Parents are looking for filtering and other services that allow “staged restrictions“
While over 70% were in favor of the enhanced (customizable) filtering services that were launched in January by mobile phone operators, many were still wanting of more detailed options, such as “limiting downloads" (68.9%), “limiting purchases” (60.6%), and “limiting monthly usage” (47.1%), allowing for the restriction level to be loosened gradually as the children grow older.

(3) 90% of parents consider it their own responsibility to educate the children on Internet use, but feel that they may require guidelines and assistance
When asked who should be responsible for educating the children about online risks, over 90% of the respondents placed the primary responsibility on the parents, significantly exceeding the percentage of parents expecting input from the schools (63%). Almost half of the parents with children in elementary school also responded that they “need guidelines and materials on appropriate staging of Internet use for their children”.

Simply “disallowing” children to use mobile phones in fear of them getting into trouble will neither advance discussions on risk education and staged restrictions nor lead to actual solutions to the problems. The survey revealed that many parents consider the all-or-nothing approach to be inadequate, and that there is a demand for further studies and proposals on a more appropriate “staged restrictions” scheme.
NetSTAR will continue to make an effort, not only in the development of technologies and services, but also in more fundamental researches, so as to provide an Internet environment that is safe for everyone to use.

■ Survey Background
Today, the Internet environment surrounding our children is festered with various problems, such as crimes associated with communication sites. The latest survey targeted parents of children in grades 1 through 12, and aimed to recognize the reality of and issues with juvenile Internet use, so as to provide more effective countermeasures.

■ Survey Method
Under the request of NetSTAR, Macromill, Inc. conducted an online survey on March 27 and 28, 2009. A total of 2,064 valid responses were collected from parents with children in grades 1 through 12. The respondent body was of even constitution, with 12.5% each of the parents having either a boy or a girl in grades 1 through 3, grades 4 through 6, grades 7 through 9, or grades 10 through 12. The respondents’ age group distribution was as follows:
- Twenties: 0.9%
- Thirties: 33.8%
- Forties: 58.0%
- Fifties: 7.0%
- Sixties and higher: 0.3%

■ Primary Findings and Comments(Graphs in Japanese only)

▼ The Internet has become widespread as a daily necessity, with the age of entrance constantly declining
- The most common cause for allowing the children to “use the Internet” is “for research” (65.7%). Other notable responses were “to attain skills useful in the future” for fathers, while research, academic work, and other “daily use” stood out for mothers. (See Graphs 1 and Graphs 2)
- For the age at which the child started to (was allowed to) use the Internet, “grades 4 through 6” was the highest for PCs at 31.5%, while “grades 7 through 9” was the highest for mobile phones at 20.1%. (See Graph 3)
- However, when looking at the initiation age for different age groups, a large proportion of grades 1 through 3 started “before entering grade 1”, while grades 4 thorough 9 started “around grades 4 through 6”, and grades 10 through 12 “around grades 7 through 9”, indicating that children are starting to use the Internet at an earlier age, perhaps due to the popularization of home broadband access over the past decade. (See Graph 4)
- On the other hand, over 80% in grades 1 through 3, and over 70% in grades 4 through 6 considered Internet access via mobile phones to be “too early”. The proportion drops dramatically past grade 7, and in grades 10 through 12, about 96% of the children were using the Internet with their mobile phones. (See Graph 5)
- Of the parents whose children have yet to start using the Internet, the majority answered “grades 4 through 9” for PCs and “grades 10 through 12” for mobile phones as the ideal age at which they would like to have their children start using the Internet. (See Graph 6)

▼ Mobile phones have high popularity as children’s private Internet device; popularity of PCs low
- Mobiles phone scored about 20 percentage points higher than PCs as private Internet devices used by children. Mobile phones were also preferred by parents as the earlier of the two devices to be provided to their children. In grades 10 through 12, the percentage of children with their own PC was 40.4%, while the percentage for mobile phones was more than double at 95.6%. (See Graphs 7 and Graphs 8)
- At 41.6%, “(the child) became old enough” ranked first as the reason that prompted parents to provide their child with a computer, while “for emergency contact” ranked first for mobile phones at 43.6%. (See Graph 9)

▼ Over 90% responded that it would be “most appropriate to have parents educate children about Internet use”
- 92.3% of the respondents answered that the “parents themselves should teach the children about Internet use”. It was also indicated that parents of older children showed greater expectations towards “mobile phone operators” and “website operators” for providing education to their children. (See Graphs 10 and Graphs 11)

▼ Majority of parents are “concerned of their child going online unsupervised”, but few adopt “staged restrictions”
- 75% responded that they are “concerned of their children going online unsupervised”. The percentage declines for older children. (See Graph 12 and Graph 13)
- Common house rules for home Internet use include “no shopping” (46.2%), “promptly seek advice when in trouble” (46%), and “do not post personal information” (45.8%) for PCs. For mobile phones, the list is topped by “promptly seek advice when in trouble” (32.3%), followed by “do not cause inconvenience for others” (31.9%) and “do not post personal information” (30.6%). In most general, the mother tends to be responsible for setting the rules, and households with older children are less likely to have house rules. (See Graphs 14. Graphs 15. Graphs 16.Graphs 17.Graphs 18.)
- The most common approach to staged restriction of Internet use was “start with supervision, and then allow independent use” (61.3%) for PCs, and “start with telephone use only, with no email or web access” (28.6%) for mobile phones. The necessity of staged restrictions is stronger for Internet usage on mobile phones, perhaps due to the fact that PC usage often begins on a shared computer, and is hence considered easier to supervise. (See Graph 19)

▼ Parents judge their children’s Internet skill in various ways
- Parents commonly judge their “child’s online competency” based on their child’s “awareness of risks involved in posting personal information” (65.1%” and “ability to recognize and avoid unsafe sites” (62.8%). Mothers tend to show further concern for “risk management” and “overuse (spending too much time online)”, while fathers tend to place more weight on “actual operation skills”. Parents who “view and post on” blogs and SNS regularly had a stronger tendency to base their judgment on “awareness of risks involved in actually meeting with an online acquaintance” and “online communication skills”. (See Graphs 20.Graphs 21.Graphs 22.)

▼ Parents of children in lower academic grades showed stronger demand for guidelines and assistance for staged restriction of Internet use
- As a whole, 41.7% responded that they will “probably use” guidelines and assistance provided on staged restrictions. As a general trend, the expectation increased as the child’s age decreased, with the percentage for parents with children in grades 1 through 6 almost reaching 50%. (See Graphs 23 and Graphs 24)

▼ Popular motive for introducing filtering services to children’s computers and mobile phones are “press coverage” and “in-store recommendations”, while “child does not access inappropriate sites” stand out as a reason for not using filtering
- About 20% responded that they use filtering services on PCs and mobile phones used by their children. For the motive, “press coverage” and “in-store recommendations” were noted, in particular for mobile phones. Parents familiar with blogs and SNS also listed “concerns with unrestricted use” and “personal experiences”. (See Graphs 25. Graphs 26.Graphs 27.Graphs 28)
- For parents that have not adopted filtering, “child does not access inappropriate sites” was the most common response for both PCs and mobile phones. With regards to mobile web filtering services that are currently offered as a free service, 10.2% listed “additional expense” as the reason for not using the service. (See Graph 29)

▼ About 50% unaware of “customization of mobile web filtering service”, but demand is high
- 51.4% were “unaware” of mobile web filtering customization services available through some mobile phone operators. In general, fathers tend to be more aware of the service. (See Graphs 30 and Graphs 31)
- 70.9% considered “customization function and other enhancements to mobile web filtering services” to be “favorable”. Parents of younger children showed greater preference. (See Graphs 32 and Graphs 33)

▼ High expectations for measures (other than filtering) to support staged restrictions
- 76% “unaware” of mobile phone service restrictions other than filtering. (See Graph 34)
- Preferred services for mobile phones, selected from a list including those currently unavailable, were topped by “restricted downloads” (68.9%), “limited fee” (65.2%), and “limited monthly usage” (47.1%). For options other than “limited fee”, mothers generally showed a greater interest. Parents who are frequent users of community sites also showed a strong interest for “log file access” (51.9%). (See Graphs 35. Graphs 36. Graphs 37.)

▼ Parents supportive of local government efforts towards children’s use of mobile phones, but also believe that “banning” will not truly resolve the standing issues
- 62.3% were in favor of the recent trend to “disallow children to bring their mobile phones to school”, for reasons such as “not necessary at school, in particular during classes”. Parents of younger children were more supportive of the trend. (See Graphs 38 and Graphs 39)
- On the other hand, 80.9% responded that “banning mobile phones from schools will not resolve online issues”, listing grounds such as “mobile phones are not the only available Internet devices” (57.6%) and “usage outside of school is more problematic” (57%). (See Graph 40)
- “Internet usage from devices other than mobile phones and/or outside of school is more problematic” was a notable response amongst mothers, while “should allow use, but with proper education” was more notable amongst fathers. (See Graph 41)

■ About NetSTAR, Inc.
NetSTAR specializes in the development of URL filtering software and services, 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 for home filtering services. Over the years, NetSTAR has gained much recognition for the quality and reliability of its collection/categorization and delivery processes. Its URL lists for filtering services have been adopted by all mobile phone operators in Japan, and is the de facto industry standard.
For more information, visit http://www.netstar-inc.com/.

■ Trademark Information
NetSTAR is trademark or registered trademark of NetSTAR, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.