The 'Net

According to a Pew Internet Project Report, 42% of Americans are still not online. Drudge apparently thinks this is big news. The write-up of the report expresses great marvel at the fact that those over 50 and those lacking in income are not online. Such is their privelege. I am more surprised by the fact that the number of Americans using the net regularly seems to have grown from 49% to 58% between April 2000 and October 2002 (I could be reading that statement wrong; it says that 49% of Americans "had access" in 2000 while 58% "reported using the internet" two years later). Given that the economy has been sluggish of late, that's rather impressive.





Other interesting stats: a mere 28% of users admit to using the 'net to swap music files. One begins to wonder what exactly the record industry is so upset about...