China has overtaken the US as the biggest user of the internet in the world, according to a report in the Times.

There has been a 61 per cent increase in internet usage in China in the last year, the figure increased from 137 million at the start of 2007 to 221 million internet users by the end of February this year.

Even though it is estimated that by 2012 there will be more Chinese internet users than the entire population of the US, only 16 per cent of China’s population access the web compared to a worldwide average of 19 per cent.

It is reported that the Chinese government blocks searches that are considered subversive or pornographic and last month it said it would shut down 25 video-sharing websites.

This follows news that the protests against French supermarket Carrefour were arranged in part through people being notified on the web.

According to a recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent) In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were 'guaranteed response times' and 'allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues'