When the Internet world’s titans alight in Paris next week for a two-day forum hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, two often clashing views on the digital world will be on display.
One, typically espoused by new companies like Google Inc. or Amazon.com Inc challenging the status quo, favors a hands-off regulatory approach and favorable tax and labor rules to ensure the Internet remains a key growth engine.
The other, more common in Europe, tends to be more concerned about the excesses of the Internet and has been more willing to impose regulation on everything from privacy to copyright issues to protect entrenched interests.
“The future of the Internet is being decided by businesses that are just trying to protect themselves from the potential of the Internet,” says Stanford Professor Lawrence Lessig, a campaigner for less regulation in fields like copyright.
“These tend to be the businesses with the most political influence,” adds Lessig, who will join Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Eric Schmidt, News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch and a host of other technology leaders in Paris.
The United States, with its flourishing Internet hub in Silicon Valley, is the envy of many entrepreneurs in Europe who feel hampered by a lack of angel investors, unhelpful regulation in areas like stock options — and a lack of like-minded people.
via Sarkozy enlists tech A-list for Web forum – The China Post.
