A quarter of UK internet users aged eight to 12 had profiles on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace last year, research has found, although the lowest minimum age set on any of the sites is 13.

Ofcom's annual Children's Media Literacy Audit for 2009 also had bad news for the music industry, finding that 44% of children between 12 and 15 thought downloading shared copies of films and music for free should not be illegal.

Among parents of those eight- to 12-year-olds who had social networking profiles, 17% said they were unaware what their children were doing. Of the 83% of parents who said they did know what their kids were up to on the net, nine out of 10 check what their children are up to.

Ofcom also found that these young web users are savvy when it comes to online safety, with 83% setting their profile so that only known friends can view their details and 4% having completely private profiles.

Separately, 37% of five- to seven-year-old home internet users were found to have visited Facebook in October last year. The research did not disclose how many had a profile.

More: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/mar/26/eight-year-olds-facebook-bebo