I. The Digital Society in an
Information Age
1.1
The Internet underpins our everyday lives, from the critical national infrastructure we
rely on for water and electricity, to modern commerce and public communications.
The development of networked computer technologies has transformed the way
in which individuals communicate, consume, work and engage across the spheres of
social, economic, political and cultural life.1 The Internet is simultaneously a worldwide
broadcasting capability, a mechanism for information dissemination and a medium for
collaboration and interaction between individuals and organisations, without regard for
traditional national boundaries.2
1.2
While the introduction of the Internet has had a major influence on modern society,
its development has, in turn, been affected by its rapid take-up and the growth in the
number of users globally. The pace of technological change and consumer-adoption rates
associated with information and communications technology (ICT) are unprecedented.
The proportion of UK households with Internet soared from 13 per cent in 1999 to 46
per cent in 2002, 57 per cent in 2006, and 84 per cent (22 million households) in 2014.3
1.3
The British public have become accustomed to living in a digitally networked society.
According to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in 2014 over threequarters of the British adult population (38 million adults) accessed the Internet every
day.4 The convergence of communications technology and software with portable
handsets has led to a rapid uptake of mobile phones, portable computers and handheld
devices, and has enabled access to the Internet on the go. Access to the Internet using
a mobile phone more than doubled in the UK between 2010 and 2014, from 24 per cent
to 58 per cent.5
1.4
Calls and SMS (text) messaging are no longer the primary communication means attached
to a mobile phone. In light of developments in mobile technology, many of the most
popular social-media platforms rely on the data capabilities of smartphones. In many
cases, these platforms exist only on smartphones, as in the case of Snapchat, Instagram
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Yvonne Jewkes and Majid Yar (eds), Handbook of Internet Crime (Milton: Willan, 2009), p.
1.
Barry M Leiner et al., ‘Brief History of the Internet’, Internet Society, <http://www.
internetsociety.org/internet/what-internet/history-internet/brief-history-internet>.
Office for National Statistics, ‘Internet Access – Households and Individuals 2014’,
Statistical Bulletin, August 2014.
Ibid.
Ibid.