Opportunists propose existing Internet regulation...

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham has hinted that the Government will one day increase its hold over the Internet, particularly in the ways in which it censors the content that younger people have access to. In his dream for our online future, the boundaries between television and the Internet will become less defined as both mediums become subject to the same level of intervention, control, and rating systems that make television everybody's favourite barren wasteland.

Just as a set of editorial standards is essential to broadcasting, there should be a set of broadcasting standards online, said the seminal thinker: "If a clip on YouTube gets a million hits, it is akin to broadcasting and it doesn't seem to me to be too difficult to have an alert on that clip with regards to language or violence or for sex," he said today at a meeting of the government's thinktank on the convergence of old and new media technologies. Obviously, the verbosely named group of thinkers didn't think about actually having a look at Youtube - which already provides viewers with an alert if content is deemed to be only suitable for mature audiences.

Burnham denied claims that his focus on Internet standards was nothing more than a shameless attempt at winning over voters by ominously saying that people felt a "sense of risk and uncertainty about this world they are roaming". We have to agree with the naysayers though, as Burnham's arguments and ill-researched ideas seem to have all the distinctive traits of a fear monger attempting to pander to the needs of a few ill-informed out-of-touchers.

The thing that makes the Internet so great at the moment is that it's unregulated. Nobody owns or controls it which gives people the power and opportunities that are denied to them in a more repressive mode of regulation. Letting the Government begin censoring Internet content is simply just the first step in having them set up a permanent regulatory body into which they can pump unnecessary and inordinate amounts of public money into poorly managing. If parents don't want their kids to be looking at inappropriate content then they should deal with this themselves with software, or even 'parenting', instead of allowing the nanny state to once again wipe their asses for them.

The Internet is still in a nascent stage: We shouldn't let anybody try to shape or change it before it's reached its full potential.

Photo: Flickr

Written by Oli Anderson on 12 Jun 2008 12:16 PM. Permalink