Hong Kong Playground Association reports that the web is sometimes used to recruit triad members, buy drugs or offer compensated dating services
Almost one in five Hong Kong youngsters admitted they would take part in illegal activities on the internet because “there was little chance of being caught”, a survey has found. Nearly half of the juvenile respondents also felt they could publish any comments or photos online as everyone should be entitled to freedom of speech. Researchers believe the results show a general lack of awareness about the need to obey the law in online behaviour, calling on schools and parents to brush up their knowledge to better educate young people. The Hong Kong Playground Association interviewed a random sample of 725 youngsters from September to December last year about their internet activities. It found that 98 per cent of respondents owned either a smartphone, desktop or tablet computer with internet access, while three in four said they began surfing the web before they were eight or nine. While the youngsters mostly used the internet for communication, entertainment and learning purposes, 13 per cent said they had taken part in online gambling, while 21 per cent had browsed pornographic content.
