Why government should not touch the internet

[Commentary] The London Cyberspace conference is an elegant metaphor for why government involvement in the internet should be limited as much as possible.

Even its name is already out of date, as quaint as calling it the “information super-highway” these days. A roomful of young people, convened as a “Youth Forum” on the fringes of the conference, were asked if anyone used the word “cyber” any more. No one raised their hands. Registering as a journalist was a laborious process, involving uploading letters of accreditation, passport details and a photo. The Queen Elizabeth II conference center in Westminster was surrounded by police, including many carrying sub-machine guns. Yet, inside, the airport-style x-ray machine was broken and harassed security staff were reduced to giving cursory glances to bags. Hmm. Is there a parallel somewhere in there about elaborate firewalls while ministry staff leave unencrypted laptops in the back of taxis? No wonder then, that almost every presentation from an internet company was a thinly veiled plea to “please leave us alone.” The best line of the day was from Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, saying that “the greatest threat to the internet was misguided and over-reaching government policy.”