Should the Internet be regulated?
I’ve just returned from an unusual venue for a humanist like me – a “Media Futures” conference organised by the Church + Media Network held in a location I’d never previously heard of (Swanick, near Afreton in Derbyshire).
I was there to debate the motion “The house would regulate the Internet”. The session was chaired by Elizabeth Hunter, Director of the think tank Theos, I support the motion and it was opposed by Claire Fox, Director of the think tank the Institute of Ideas.
I argued that the Internet is already regulated in a fashion and should be regulated a bit more, while broadcasting should be regulated rather a lot less to reflect the convergence of the Net and broadcasting.
For my speech, I drew material from my web site essays on “How the Internet could be regulated” and “How should we regulate content in a converged world?”.
The Chair took votes of the audience both before and after the debate to establish whether the arguments had changed minds. At the beginning of the debate, 21 were in favour of Internet regulation, 19 were opposed, and 16 did not know. At the conclusion of the debate, 29 supported regulation, 15 opposed it, and 6 were still undecided.
So, from a pretty even split of opinion, we went to two to one in favour of my position – which I think constitutes what in football parlance is termed a result.
June 19th, 2011 at 1:32 am
for a man who seems to be so well read with plenty of time on his hands I am surprised you have never heard of the Conference Centre at Swanwick in Derbyshire.
I am sure my cousin Roger in Worsley would agree with me.
June 19th, 2011 at 11:03 am
It shows that I still have a lot to learn and continue to learn constantly.