A Devon professor has found that alarming numbers of Devon’s schoolchildren freely give out personal details on the internet.

The ‘i in online’ children and online privacy survey found that 60 per cent of those polled had not read the privacy policies of the websites they used.

Of the 3,000 primary-aged children surveyed, 40 per cent said they were on Facebook.

The survey was carried out by Professor Andy Phippen, of Plymouth University, and he discovered that many primary school children did not know what a privacy policy was.

Most secondary pupils said they knew it was important, but found it too ‘wordy, long and complicated.’

Professor Phippen said: “The i-in-online aims to educate primary school children their parents and teachers about using and providing their personal information online, and also highlights the potential pitfalls of sharing too much personal information on the internet.”