Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/07/07/football_more_popular_than_sex/

Football more popular than sex, Novell claims

Yet another dodgy survey from Provo, Utah company

By Drew Cullen

Posted in On-Prem, 7th July 1999 09:47 GMT

A year ago From The Register No. 85 -- a year ago Football is more popular than sex among office workers, according to Novell, in yet another dodgy survey designed to plug BorderManager. More than 25 per cent of UK employees with access to the Web have been tracking the World Cup online, according to Novell. When they should be working. This is the inference we are supposed to draw. By contrast, A Novell survey conducted last year reported that 15 per cent of workers said that they viewed pornographic or obscene material on the Internet at work. So there you have it. But what about all those workers who were too embarrassed to admit they were ogling at pornographic images online? Novell says the latest survey shows that the Internet has arrived as a medium of choice for sports fans. Of the 1016 adults interviewed about their use of the Internet at work and study, 51 per cent of workers who use the Internet for recreational purposes accessed World Cup related sites. Eugene Forrester, market development manager, Novell UK, commented: "Whilst most would agree football is fairly innocuous, the 50 per cent using the Internet for non-work purposes in the office can be a serious problem and lead to many wasted hours." He went on to plug his company's product, BorderManager, which companies can use to restrict the sites to which employees have access. ®