Even if governments wanted to do so, they wouldn't be up to the task of censoring the Internet, according to Ira Magaziner, former U.S. policy advisor to the White House.
"You can't censor the Internet or enact centralized rules on it. It doesn't work," said Magaziner, the keynote speaker at the Internet Content Summit in Germany.
Bertelsmann Foundation hosts the three-day summit. The summit features leading politicians, civil liberties groups, law-enforcement agencies and industry representatives that gather to hear more about the Foundation's suggested framework for self-regulating Internet content.
Politicians, however, have yet to completely abandon the idea of policing the 'Net. While supporting self-regulatory efforts, Germany's Interior Minister Otto Schily stressed that self-regulatory proposals should not serve as an alibi to delegate all responsibility for content to parents. He spoke out for the government's supporting role in conjunction with private industry, saying, "Government is obliged to protect the rights of its citizens."
With 20,000 new Web sites a week springing up worldwide and the decentralized nature of the Internet, no government can live up to the promise of protecting users from all harmful content, Magaziner said.
"Government would take too long and be too inflexible," he said.
Magaziner said that the Clinton administration has taken a hands-off policy on Internet issues. The Clinton administration is looking to the private sector to lead the way, as it has on such topics as digital signatures.
"What we feel is going to be effective is to empower people to protect themselves," he said. Magaziner is currently president of SIS, a business strategy consulting firm.
Magaziner also spoke out in favor of the recommendations published by the Bertelsmann Foundation, which were based on discussions with a group of experts and input from four major universities.
The proposals include developing an international system for rating and filtering content that parents will have the option to employ. It also suggests creating a code of conduct for how ISPs can act responsibly when made aware of harmful content. Another suggestion is to set up hotlines for user feedback on content and conduct violations.
Civil liberties groups, meanwhile, have expressed concerns that any attempt to rate Internet content will amount to censorship.
A group called Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties issued a statement to coincide with the Bertelsmann Foundation's summit. "ISPs and content providers should recognize that the European Convention on Human Rights [and other International agreements] enshrines the rights to freedom of expression, privacy and access to information."
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