State merits bigger role in the web, Sarkozy tells forum

FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday made a pitch forgreater state involvement in the internet, saying governments had aunique legitimacy in helping "civilise" the online world.

Mr Sarkozy, whose desire for more regulation of the net has puthim at odds with large web firms, compared the technology to some ofthe great revolutions and said it had been a force for enormous goodin the world.

"Now that the internet is an integral part of most people'slives, it would be contradictory to exclude governments," Mr Sarkozysaid at a major forum in Paris on the future of the internet.

"Nobody should forget that these governments are the onlylegitimate representatives of the will of the people in ourdemocracies. To forget this is to risk democratic chaos andanarchy."

In his speech to 1,500 delegates at the e-G8 Forum, which isbeing held before a G8 summit of world leaders this week in theFrench seaside town of Deauville, Mr Sarkozy said rules were neededto protect copyright, prevent monopolies and keep harmful materialout of the hands of children.

The French president has previously challenged the anarchy of theinternet with measures such as a law to cut off internet access tocopyright pirates and opposition to Google's book digitalisationproject. He has also expressed unease with major online firms notpaying taxes in France for revenue gained through their activitiesthere.

Before an audience that included some of the major players in theindustry, including Google's Eric Schmidt, Facebook's MarkZuckerberg and News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch, Mr Sarkozystruck a more conciliatory tone yesterday.

His speech avoided the word "regulation" and he stressed thevital role the web had played in the Arab spring.

"You have changed the world . . . it has been a total globalrevolution. What has been unique in this revolution is that itbelongs to nobody; it has no flag, no slogan, it is a common good.What is also unique about this revolution is that it was donewithout violence. It was not fought on battlefields but onuniversity campuses."

However, he insisted that ground rules were needed to limit theabuses and excesses of the internet, including terrorism and childabuse.

"We won't take steps that would damage growth in your industry,"he told executives. "But you can't escape a minimum set of rules."

On the vexed issue of piracy, he reminded the industry of itsresponsibilities, drawing a parallel between the intellectualproperty on which many web companies are built and the copyrightthat artists seek to protect. "These algorithms that constitute yourpower . . . this technology that is changing the world, are yourproperty and nobody can contest that," he said.

"Writers, directors or actors can have the same rights."

Mr Sarkozy also warned tech companies about seeking too muchmarket power, urging them not to allow new monopolies take root"where you have overturned seemingly unchallengeable situations".His comments come as the European Commission begins a formal inquiryinto whether Google has a dominant position in online search andadvertising, which it may use to tilt its results away fromcompetitors.

The debates at the forum, whose conclusions will be presented toG8 leaders in Deauville later this week, pit passionate advocates oftwo opposing views of the internet against each other.

During one panel, Google's Eroc Schmidt dismissed the issue ofmonopolies: "Winner-takes-all markets are pretty evanescent . . .Nobody would want internet growth to be significantly slowed becauseof some stupid rule."

Mr Sarkozy also warned against "total transparency", a principlethat would "sooner or later" come into conflict with that ofindividual liberty.