• BBC News, Wednesday, August 29, 2007 11:30 AM

Software architect Vint Cerf, considered one of the founding fathers of the Internet, believes that the Web, for all its chaos and efficiency, is a reflection of society. And he says it should not be regulated like other media beyond what's clearly illegal (i.e. sexual predators), because that would place the Net on a "slippery slope" toward limiting freedom of expression. "If it's not illegal, it raises a rather interesting question about where you do draw the line," he said, which is why self-regulation should be encouraged.

Cerf's comments come after the UK's Conservative Party suggesting curbing the usage of sites like YouTube among young people to keep them from seeing videos showing excessive violence. This is where self-regulation comes into play, as Google, Yahoo and AOL allow network operators to deploy content filters to protect children and keep employees from straying from their work.

Instead of imposing restrictions on the Web Cerf suggests repairing whatever is wrong in society. "When you have a problem in the mirror, you do not fix the mirror, you fix that which is reflected in the mirror."

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