You’ve probably seen all the coverage of the G8 summit which has discussed as a main theme the Internet.
Apologies that this blog post is a bit long, but the G8’s messages gave me much food for thought!
The G8 leaders together represent nearly two thirds of the world economy. It’s great to have an acknowledgement from them about how important the Internet is – for education, for the promotion of freedom and democracy, and as an essential and irreplaceable tool for business and the wider economy.
And leaders also give resounding support for the idea that broadband is, these days, part of the essential economic infrastructure. I think we need to go one step further and facilitate and encourage investment in high speed broadband. Otherwise, we will miss a major opportunity for growth and jobs and part of our society will be excluded; Europe is already lagging behind some of its competitors.
It goes to show what I’ve been saying all along – that the Digital Agenda holds the key to Europe’s future.
Beyond that, leaders got down into some pretty thorny and difficult issues.
Like regulating the Internet – an issue on which I’ve seen some rather extreme positions being taken on both sides of the debate. We have to strike the right balance between freedom and chaos. The freedom of the Internet is a major factor in its success as a driver of innovation, creativity and growth. At the same time, it cannot be lawless, or a space where there are only rights and no responsibilities. As I said at the e-G8, ICT markets move very quickly and therefore when you come with regulation the landscape may have changed completely. I firmly believe in the engagement of stakeholders, so that they can take their own decisions. However, if necessary, I am ready to take my responsibility and intervene with regulation if it is justified, as we do for example on privacy and service transparency. Even then, regulation should leave room for different forms of compliance that can be adapted over time or to match the characteristics of different sectors of the Internet ecosystem.
Many of the other issues they discussed are also ones that will be familiar to you if you’re a regular follower of the Digital Agenda. For example, on intellectual property we’re committed to a proper framework to increase the offer of legal material online. We will come forward with proposals for real changes in the current copyright licensing system. Remuneration of authors is essential, but it can only grow if legal content is widely available. The current system in Europe is not adapted to the Internet and it frustrates citizens.
I wholeheartedly embrace the G8 conclusions on child protection: we need to move up a gear in addressing child abuse content on the Internet, not just by removing it from the web, but also – and first and foremost – by making the best use of advanced technologies to identify the perpetrators of such horrible practices. More generally, it is also important that children be offered access to a safe Internet. The tools exist to prevent their exposure to harmful content. By putting together all the Internet players that have a role in producing services and content that end up in the hands of our children, I am confident I will be able to present in the Autumn a series of actions to protect children online.
Plus my strong commitment to freedom of expression is well-known – and I’ve already given a clear signal on the “no disconnect strategy“.
For my part, I was delighted to be able to participate in the e-G8 Forum which led up to this, and in particular had the pleasure of discussing all of these detailed issues in advance with Eric Schmidt and Sheryl Sandberg (of Google and Facebook, respectively). And of course our Commission President José Manuel Barroso was there for the event itself.
The messages from the G8 have given us a consistent international position that will help us driving forward the Digital Agenda for Europe. I’m delighted that the G8 has given such an important issue the attention it deserves.
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Tags: Deauville, digital revolution, eG8, G8, Neelie Kroes
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Good to see you put first things first, getting a connection to everyone is the most important thing, otherwise the brave new world will never happen.
The way to get a connection to everyone is to do the hardest areas first, and this will stimulate market forces to supply a better connection to the rest. Digital parish pumps, affordable access at local level will mean new entrants challenge the incumbents and competition will mean market forces and not endless funding brings us a digital Europe to compete with the rest of the world on a level playing field.
chris
The headline gets it right. The power fetish of political leaders is dangerous, esp. when we have a market environment characterized by Schumpeterian competition. Then stakeholderism leads to regulatory failure.
eG8 was mostly a grand show to demonstrate that the Silicon Valley was best friends with French President Sarkozy and supportive of his and Vivendi’s controversial policy agenda (which is actually not the case, quite the opposite, but the event is the message).
I wonder if it would make sense to listen to their regulatory proposals how to keep their European emerging competitors down and stifle their market access. Often market forces require regulation to unleach them and the old bulls try everything to prevent competition and preserve their profitable status quo.
There is a logical problem with your position:
«regulating the Internet (…) We have to strike the right balance between freedom and chaos. The freedom of the Internet is a major factor in its success as a driver of innovation, creativity and growth. (…)
Plus my strong commitment to freedom of expression is well-known»
The first statements have a direct conflict with the second. It is not possible to have one and the other at the same time. The internet is *all* about digital content.
You can’t “regulate” or “civilize” (the current eufemisms for censorship) without at the very least imposing the same tools as the much criticized great firewall of China.
You know, of course, what that means: no freedom of expression.
«Plus my strong commitment to freedom of expression is well-known – and I’ve already given a clear signal on the “no disconnect strategy“.»
That’s fine and dandy, but please do bear in mind that it is extremely misguided to “regulate” or “civilize” content.
That’s just censorship, no matter the current trendy euphemism that is used, and places you at the side of those who fear freedom of expression but use cover-up scare-mongering lobby tools like child pornography (“think of the little children”) or “piracy”, word of choice of the useless mafia-like leeches of the music industry (who also use “think of the poor little artists”).
Wow Neelie Kroes, great article, really the internet is forming now a very important core of business source, I think more than 30% from this globe, their business is based on the internet, and really the government should take into consideration this source, this will help a lot in enhancing the economy of the country.
Thanks
It is no problem the post has come out a little late – you managed to embrace the given space for thought to the fullest – the article has turned out to be really informative and insightful. I agree with you about the particular importance of freedom of expression, but regulating the Internet along with that seems to be a little contradictory, doesn’t it?