The US has drafted a Bill to curb the freewheeling nature of the Internet, but it needs a "cataclysmic" event to garner the political support to make it law, says Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig.
Lessig was speaking at an Internet Society of SA meeting, in Cape Town last night.
He cited a conversation he had with Richard Clarke, who - up until January 2003 - was coordinator for security, infrastructure protection and counter-terrorism on the National Security Council, and so was known as the US government's "Internet Czar".
Towards the end of the question and answer session, Lessig said: "I want to tell you a little secret. I had dinner with Richard Clarke in Berlin, the former 'Internet Czar', and I asked him how was it that the probably misnamed Patriot Act was passed so quickly. He told me the Department of Justice had it ready for as long as 20 years, waiting for such a time when it could be used."
The Patriot Act was signed into law by president George W Bush only 44 days after the 11 September terrorist attacks and was passed after little debate by the US Congress.
Lessig added that he asked Clarke if there was a similar draft law on controlling the Internet and he was told there was.
"I asked what was in that law and he [Clarke] replied that 'Vint Cerf would not like it'... All that is needed is an event on the scale of 911, not necessarily a terrorist event, but one that gives the political will to destroy all the original values of the Internet," Lessig said.
Cerf, along with Bob Kahn, is commonly known as one of the founding fathers of the Internet and is a proponent of its free use and minimal government control. Cerf is one of the co-founders of the Internet Society. He also serves as chairman of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which has a memorandum of understanding with the US Department of Commerce to govern the allocation of domain names.
During Lessig's speech, he emphasised that it was the lack of control that led to the innovation that allowed the Internet's creation.
He pointed out control had led to a lack of innovation and criticised SA for allowing its telecommunications industry to stagnate with a de facto monopoly situation.
"Don't allow a business model that incentivises the network owner not to increase the capacity of the Internet...There is no intellectual problem there."
The South African chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC-ZA) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation.
Share