March 26, 2010 -- A quarter of UK internet users aged eight to 12 had profiles on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace last year, research has found, although the lowest minimum age set on any of the sites is 13. Ofcom's annual Children's Media Literacy Audit for 2009 also had bad news for the music industry, finding that 44% of children between 12 and 15 thought downloading shared copies of films and music for free should not be illegal.

Among parents of those eight- to 12-year-olds who had social networking profiles, 17% said they were unaware what their children were doing. Of the 83% of parents who said they did know what their kids were up to on the net, nine out of 10 check what their children are up to. Ofcom also found that these young web users are savvy when it comes to online safety, with 83% setting their profile so that only known friends can view their details and 4% having completely private profiles. Separately, 37% of five- to seven-year-old home internet users were found to have visited Facebook in October last year. The research did not disclose how many had a profile.

The report also provides an insight into youth attitudes to the topical, and controversial, area of digital piracy. Ofcom found that the number of eight- to 15-year-olds who downloaded or watched TV programmes on the internet had increased, from 17% in 2008 to 21% in 2009. Among 12- to 15-year old web users, 44% thought downloading shared copies of films and music for free should not be illegal, 18% did not have a view and 38% said that it should be illegal. Boys aged 12 to 15 were more likely to say digital downloading should not be illegal.

Blogs and information sites such as Wikipedia are visited by 18% of eight- to 11-year-olds, and 48% of 12- to 15-year-olds. Among the younger age group, 70% of those using such websites believe all, or most, of what they read; while 48% of the older age group believed the same. TV viewing data showed that ITV1's The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent were the most viewed programmes among children aged 10 to 15 last year.