Most online Americans view online shopping as a way to save time and a convenient way to buy products. At the same time, most internet users express discomfort over a key step in online shopping – sending personal or credit card information over the internet.

Today, comScore released its December rankings of the largest and fastest-growing Internet properties and site categories in Canada based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.  “Retail sites showed strong growth as online holiday shopping reached a fevered pitch in December,” said Brent Bernie, president of comScore Media Metrix, comScore Canada.

People who have faced one of several common government-related problems in the past two years are more likely to consult the internet than other sources, including experts and family members.  In a national phone survey, respondents were asked whether they had encountered 10 possible problems in the previous two years, all of which had a potential connection to the government or government-provided information.

Google was the most visited property in France in November, with 19.6 million unique visitors age 15 or older, reaching 69 percent of the total French Internet audience. It was followed by Microsoft Sites which attracted nearly 18 million unique visitors, a 64 percent reach. The fastest growing of the top ten properties was multi-channel retailer, Groupe PPR, owner of sites such as Laredoute.fr and Fnac.com. The property grew 10 percent from October, attracting 10.7 million unique visitors in November, a 38 percent reach and its largest ever online audience.

Content creation by teenagers continues to grow, with 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation, up from 57% of online teens in 2004.  Fueled by new technologies, websites, and social network domains such as Facebook and MySpace, large numbers of teens share and create materials online.