Close to half (49%) of all Americans think the federal government should regulate the Internet the same way it does radio and television according to a new Rasmussen Reports survey.
Thirty-five percent are opposed to having the Internet regulated by the federal government and 16 percent are undecided.
The majority (73%) of Americans believe that it should be a crime to harass someone on the Internet and 13 percent disagree.
The findings come as a Missouri woman faces federal prosecution for creating a phony MySpace profile and pretending to be a 16-year-old boy to flirt with and later reject 13-year-old Megan Meier. Meier later committed suicide.
The woman, Lori Drew, pleaded not guilty last week to charges of conspiracy and accessing a protected computer to obtain information
Most Americans (71%) have some awareness of the Drew case, with only 25 percent saying they know nothing about it. Women (79%) more than men (67%) think online harassment should be a crime.
Women support federal regulation of the Internet, with 55 percent in favor, 25 percent opposed and 20 percent undecided. Forty-six percent of men were against federal regulation, while 42 percent support it and 12 percent were unsure.
One out of four Americans (26%) says they have a social networking account with sites such as MySpace and Facebook, but 69 percent say they do not. Sixty-five percent of men and 45 percent of women under 40 say they are members of a social network. Only 24 percent of men and 15 percent of women over 40 said they were members of a social network.
Close to one out of two adults (48%) say they use the Internet every day or almost every day, but 25 percent say they rarely, if ever use it. Income is a factor, with Internet usage increasing with the level of the participant’s annual earnings.
