Right Way And Wrong Way to Police Net

25 February 2008

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As a father, a businessman and a member of the community I am happy that people are finally taking an interest in policing what is on the internet. But we must do it properly.

Simply because the internet has become a money-making medium, it shouldn't be policed to suffocation.

It's hard enough running a technology business without having people who know nothing about the industry trying to monitor it. ISPs need to work with the authorities to impart knowledge and the government needs to listen as they are not renowned for creating successful regulatory organisations.

Tiscali has been working with the police since last summer to regulate downloads but the two have found it very difficult to work together.

One perfect solution would be for the big broadband contractors to get together and discuss what/who should or shouldn't be allowed on the net.

Every ISP effectively owns a chunk of the internet. Hosting ISPs like UKFast provide web space, broadband ISPs provide connectivity. Between us we can deny access to undesirable internet users.

Therefore a self regulatory internet authority is born without the need for massive governmental organisations. We already implement this. Our terms and conditions state we will remove any site containing content of a harmful nature. We do not tolerate anti-social behaviour of any kind.

In the press this month we've been talking about a three strikes and you're out policy for illegal downloaders. Some ISPs have already been in talks with the entertainment industry, but no agreement has been reached.

I don't think this would work for several reasons; one being that many people are unsure of what is legally downloadable because of what is readily accessible, the other being that if we start banning one thing, where do we stop.

As a responsible business owner it is obvious what downloads will cause harm. With examples of child pornography or terrorism it is the responsibility of ISPs to remove content from servers and notify authorities. Our experience of this is that most cases fall on deaf ears. But there is a big difference between downloadable child pornography and music file sharing.

We do not hesitate to take down websites if we receive justifiable complaints. To go looking for content to remove would be simply ridiculous and too time consuming. But with regards to finding the content in the first place, how do you find something smaller than a needle in an environment larger than a haystack?

Anyone who uses the internet to promote terrorist groups for example, is going to have an innocuous web address and content hidden deep within subfolders of a site.

Additionally, if regulations are placed on what is illegal in one country, how does this relate to other areas of the world? As a world-wide format, the medium is incredibly difficult, if not impossible to monitor.

However, more police interest in the internet is as completely welcome as more bobbies on the street. But dictating to hosting providers, ISPs and internet users about web usage goes against what a lot of people believe everything the internet was created for.

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