Jason Jeffries
25 October 2011
The founder of Lastminute.com and governmental advocate for digital technology Martha Lane Fox recently launched a drive to encourage more U.K. residents to shop online and take advantage of other web-based services. The Give an Hour campaign is part of Race Online 2012, an initiative started in the U.K. to get 10 million people connected and online by the end of 2012.
Marketing Week reported Give an Hour will launch on October 30, when consumers will turn their clocks back and gain an hour. Lane Fox is working with major retailers such as John Lewis, Wetherspoon's and the Post Office to offer free internet to consumers in these and other retail stores throughout the country.
Since the inception of the program in 2009, Race Online has pushed 1.3 million people into getting online, but 8.7 million U.K. residents are still not using the internet, eWeek reported.
"We live in an age when 'digital' is a vital life skill: as basic as knowing how to read and write," Lane Fox said in a statement. "It's simply unacceptable that so many people are still unable to benefit from what the web can offer."
Lane Fox singled out shopping discounts, along with the ability to make free Skype calls and explore topics of personal interest, among the web's offerings.
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