YNOT – A study designed to gauge New Zealanders’ attitudes about internet-related moral issues discovered Kiwis believe pornography viewing and online adult dating are more “morally acceptable” than illegally downloading copyrighted content.Wellington-based market researcher and analyst UMR Research asked poll participants their opinions about a number of issues. When questioned about sexually explicit materials, 82 percent of respondents said single people should be able to watch porn or take advantage of adult dating sites without moral recrimination. Sixty-nine percent said online flirting was perfectly acceptable between single people, and 21 percent indicated “it was all right” for married people to hide their online porn habit from their spouse.

Only 18 percent of respondents answered affirmatively when asked whether downloading copyrighted music without paying was acceptable, and only 13 percent said they had no moral objection to internet users sharing commercial video without paying. Thirty-one percent indicated watching copyrighted video on YouTube and similar sites raised no moral red flags.