by Nicholas Henderson

Created on: April 15, 2008

The internet whilst being a place of POTENTIAL "harm", through the use of "hate blogs" and "happy slapping videos", should never be monitored, controlled or taxed by any government anywhere in the world.
There are quite literally dozens of reasons for this, and I will elaborate on some of these points below.
1) Exchange of ideas: As soon as the internet is regulated the level exchange of ideas will decline. One only has to look at the United Kingdom and the regulation of Citizen Band radio (CB) to see this. When CB radio was introduced tens of thousands of people bought a transceiver in order to join the mass of people already communicating with others all over the country. It enabled users to communicate with the masses from the comfort of their own homes. Not only could you listen in on a broadcast, but you could contribute to it too. This communication revolution soon died when the UK Government introduced legislation that required owners of CB radios to obtain a licence for use.

Within months of this legislation being passed the number of users dropped dramatically. I am able to remember the last time I heard another voice on my CB radio, and it was rather disconcerting at the time as I realised that I used to talk to dozens of people on the airwaves, when I was one of the last "on air". In order to broadcast anything on the airwaves you now needed a licence, which cost money. Most people were not prepared to pay what was essentially a tax to enjoy themselves.
Similarly, the internet is a place where many millions of people all over the globe log on for entertainment purposes. The biggest use of the internet (aside from pornography) is social networking. Most, if not all, of these social networking sites are currently free for use, with some offering premium services that require payment.
Should a government introduce legislation requiring home users to register for a licence in order to use the internet, a lot of the low income families will simply not be able to afford to continue to access the internet. This would effectively shut off a huge stream of potentially new ideas. Further, there will be more people who will simply not be interested in filling in complicated online forms or paperwork in order to register for a licence to access the internet. Again, these people and their ideas/contributions will be lost.
2)Costs: The biggest problem in todays world is the cost of living. With rising house prices, escalating food bills, and energy costs going through

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