The Internet is built to enable communication. The ability to communicate with others via the Internet is becoming a basic skill in Europe as we enter the Information Society. 47% of the EU population regard themselves as very or fairly confident in communicating with others via the Internet (i.e. feeling confident in using e-mail, chat rooms or personal web pages). This is considerably below the US level of 72%. Among EU countries, only Denmark is above the US level. A general North-South divide within the EU can be found with regard to confidence in Internet communication, while most of the candidate countries are lagging further behind. An exception is Estonia which almost reaches the EU average.