An online survey of 9,000 Internet users from around the globe has revealed that the top three things Australians can’t live without include their Car(50%), Internet(46%) and Television(45%).

The report of which has been commissioned by Symantec (the company that brought us Norton Antivirus) has also revealed that 42% of Australian adults believe that the Internet has improved the relationship of their family.

When it comes to Aussie kids friending their parents online though, only 23% are doing it whilst the other 77% I assume are feeling awkward when their parents try to add them online.

Amongst all the countries surveyed Australian parents reported knowing what their children were looking for online the most often (86%); However Australian youths reported that their parents only knew what they were looking at 65% of the time.

David Freer, Symantec’s VP for Consumer Business told Tech Wired:

“There are kids that are actually spending on average close to 50 hours a week [online] whereas parents think they’re only spending 25 hours a week [online]. There is a big disconnect, and Australia is probably one of the largest variances of all the countries that were surveyed.”

With only 75% of youths having set rules for using the Internet, you’d agree with why this might be the case.

When it came to going to trusted websites online, David told Tech Wired:

“When we started asking them [those surveyed] the sorts of websites they go to, nearly 50% go to un-trusted websites.”

When asked how Australia ranked amongst the other 12 Countries David told Tech Wired:

“We’re taking up technology at a good pace, and this is utilising whether it’s netbooks, smartphones or whatever,”

“I think we’re a little slower than a few of the leading Countries such as the US and some of the European Countries on some of the applications that we can run and I think it’s partly due to, believe it or not, our geographical closeness. People tend to prefer face to face relationships here in Australia as compared to their online relationships, though online relationships are growing quite quickly of which is being driven by a number of age groups.”

You can check the full report out @ http://nortononlineliving.com/

Tech Wired conducted an interview with David Freer, Vice President of Consumer Business for Symantec – Listen below

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

Tech Wired Australia

Host: Ben Grubb

Guest: Prof Alan Knight

Topic discussed:

Journalism students ‘don’t read papers’

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW

Tech Wired Australia

Host: Ben Grubb

Guest: Comedian, Dan Ilic

Topics discussed:

Freeview spoof ad, Broadcast TV and its future (or lake of), The way forward for Media companies and we talk about the infamous Beached as bru video on YouTube that has made over $1,000,000

Tech Wired Australia

Host: Ben Grubb

Guest 1: Highway1’s General Manager, Michael Nicholas Power

Guest 2: Tech2u’s General manager, Andrew Robson

Topic discussed:

Internet Filtering

Tech Wired Australia mini episode edition

Host: Ben Grubb
Guest:Bart Jellema

Topic discussed:

Startup Camp Sydney

Tech Wired Australia – Mini episode edition

Host: Ben Grubb

Guests: Laurel Papworth (Social media strategist) and Peter Black (Law lecturer at Queensland University of Technology)

Topic discussed:

In this moderated debate, Laurel and Peter argue for and against censoring online comments when it comes to court orders. The issue recently arose when an alleged arsonist of the Victorian bushfires was named on Social networking website Facebook. Victoria Police demanded it be taken down, as well as their MySpace page to prevent any prejudice in a courts decision. You will hear both sides of the stories in a half an hour debate, enjoy!

Tech Wired Australia episode 107.

Hosts: Ben Grubb & Brent Pudney.

Topics discussed:

Australia’s most interesting Twitter users, Man Fails Alcohol Test After Ice Cream Fools Breathalyze, Centrelink to use voice ID, ISPs clustered for filtering trials, More computers hit desks and Obama Gets to Keep His BlackBerry

Show notes @ http://techwiredau.com/?p=3335

Tech Wired Australia episode 106.

Hosts: Ben Grubb & Brent Pudney.

Topics discussed:

Nasty worm wriggles into millions of computers, identified as ‘Conficker’ or ‘Downadup’, Beer and Urine Make ‘NoPoPo’ Batteries Last 10 Years, Global Music Sales Fell 7% in ’08 as CDs Lost Favor, Display wall enlarges the world at university, Small business gets $120,000 phone bill after hackers attack VoIP phone, Single drive wipe protects data, Regional broadband grants face cuts, It makes no cents

Show notes @ http://techwiredau.com/?p=3276

LISTEN TO AUDIO INTERVIEW NOW

Tech Wired Australia recently interviewed user Matthew Law from online forum Whirlpool. Matthew submitted an abortion website to the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for review as to whether such content is prohibited in Australia.

Now, you may be wondering why Matthew submitted such site for review. It was ‘all in the name of science’ so to speak, to test how ACMA would handle the submitted site. On the 6th of January Matthew submitted the site to ACMA that he found by doing a random google search on “abortion”; 15 days later he received a response:

“Following investigation of your complaint, ACMA is satisfied that the internet content is hosted outside Australia, and that the content is prohibited or potential prohibited content.“

“The Internet Industry Association (IIA) has a code of practice (http://www.iia.net.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=415&Itemid=33) for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which, among other things, set out arrangements for dealing with such content.  In accordance with the code, ACMA has notified the above content to the makers of IIA approved filters, for their attention and appropriate action.  The code requires ISPs to make available to customers an IIA approved filter.“

Now this may not seem that bad as I would think some parents (that have installed such filters) would like to have the option to block such content. The problem that does arise though, is that the Australian Government want to implement a mandatory Internet filter that will block your access to such sites. If that policy goes through, then you won’t have access to such sites at all.

If you were blocked from seeing content of any nature the Government deemed inappropriate, would you be happy?

Hosts: Ben Grubb & Brent Pudney.

Topics discussed:

Twitter hackers, no more DRM,  Zune 30 Freezing Issue (Zune 30gb stuck at reboot screen), Brisbane to spend $500,000 on superfast broadband, Three of Four Major Undersea Internet Cables Get Cut, Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits and EzyDVD goes into receivership.

Show notes @ http://techwiredau.com/?p=3255