Regulating the net - should we or shouldn't we?

As broadband spreads, traditional broadcasting and new media are converging - but businesses and regulators are still divided over the future of internet regulation.

Google's Rachel Whetstone questioned if there was really any need to regulate the web at all during the Oxford Media Convention yesterday. The event saw media company execs gathering to discuss issues such as how to deal with new technology and the digital switchover.

The director of corporate communications and public affairs at Google Europe said: "What's broken that needs to be fixed?"

Whetstone said the internet has made information, once only available to the elite, open to everyone. She said regulation would damage this and emphasised the success the internet has had without regulation.

One advocate of policing the net, in some form at least, is Martin Goswami, chief executive of digital on-demand content provider, Aggregator.

He said the dividing line between the PC and television is disappearing and so regulation applied to television should also cover internet content. There should be "the same rules with everybody", he said.

Broadband from A to Z

Click on the links below to find out more...

A is for ADSL
B is for BT
C is for Cable & Wireless
D is for Dial-up
E is for Education
F is for Fibre
G is for Goonhilly
H is for HSDPA
I is for In-flight
J is for Janet
K is for Kingston
L is for Landlines
M is for Murdoch
N is for Next generation
O is for Ofcom
P is for Power lines
Q is for Quad-play
R is for Remote working
S is for Satellite phones
T is for Trains
U is for Unbundling
V is for VoIP
W is for WiMax
X is for Xbox
Y is for YouTube
Z is for Zombies

Tom Loosemore, project director of the BBC 2.0 initiative also warned of the difficulties and risks in regulating the web.

He said the internet was originally intended to be open, democratic and transparent by its creators. It should not become a closed network but should instead be able to regulate itself, he argued.

But he added the issue of regulating cyberspace is "much bigger than the BBC, much bigger than broadcast". "The internet is a remarkable and very fragile thing," he said.

Earlier in the day Ofcom CEO, Ed Richards, outlined the need for regulation to evolve as the UK rapidly moves towards a completely digital broadcast media in 2012.

He said Ofcom needs to be "responsive to the needs of the audience of this century and not the last".