Leave ecommerce alone, governments told

Governments taking a Big Brother approach to the internet are in danger of doing "more harm than good" and should leave regulation alone, according to the US Internet Council.

The State of the Internet 2000 report from the analyst group warns governments about the impact of regulating areas such as ecommerce.

"Governments face serious obstacles to involvement in 'managing' the internet to any extent, and there is the very real danger that precipitous actions might do more harm than good," the report said.

It advised that industry and governments must work together to develop legislation for the internet.

Around the world, companies and countries must standardise guidelines if the internet community is to avoid costly international disputes.

The report is particularly relevant to the UK, where the government has backtracked on plans to implement an European Commission ecommerce directive concerning spam, citing the need for industry self-regulation.

A spokesman for Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said: "The government has decided on the issue of spam that the self-regulation schemes in place provide enough protection and anything else would be too restrictive on business."

Yaman Akdeniz, director of civil liberties group Cyber-Rights and Cyber Liberties, said that self-regulation doesn't work.

"We've seen the same in the US and the amount of spam in the UK is growing, which is a concern. Apart from the problems associated with spam itself, the DTI's policy is not compatible with the data protection laws," he said.

Akdeniz said that the government claims the UK is the best place for ecommerce but that this isn't the message it is sending with this ruling.

First published in Network News