THE Government has laid out its ideas for a proposed voluntary code to govern how communication firms handle calls, e-mails and web access.

Information about subscribers, including names, addresses, dates of birth, should all be retained for a year, it said.

Phone companies should keep records for a year on date and time of calls and, in the case of mobiles, the location of the user, said the Home Office paper.

Internet activity, such as the address of web sites visited, should be kept for four days.

The paper gained prominence last year when Home Secretary David Blunkett was accused of snooping on the public.

The regulations had come about after security fears were raised following the September 11 terrorist attacks, but he eventually recalled the plans. The paper stressed the importance of such data in the war on terror.

In the year after September 11, there had been more than 10,000 requests for data linked with terrorism.

If the industry cannot agree on a voluntary code, the Government would look to making this kind of data retention compulsory, said officials.

AS more money is spent on IT and computers, it is easy to forget that it was bought to help not hinder. A new book and website - www.harnessthebeast.com - highlights the importance of making IT work for you.

I t uses the so-called Beast as a metaphor for all the bits and pieces that make up business technology and goes on to show how many requests for information and data can easily be answered as long as people are aware of where to look.

The book is clearly laid out and simple to read whilst the website offers some helpful hints and advice.

OVER the final quarter of 2002, an estimated 45 per cent of all UK households could access the Internet from home, an increase from the 39 per cent reported for the same period in 2001.

Sixty-two per cent of adults in the UK have accessed the Internet at some point, according to figures from the latest National Statistics Omnibus Survey.

Among those adults who had used the Internet for private use, 79 per cent used it to find information about goods or services and 72 per cent used it for email. Forty-eight per cent used it to order tickets, goods or services and 40 per cent for finding education-related information.