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As is the nature of those who seek positions of power, their eyes are now focusing on the Net and ways in which they can extend their own powerbase by exercising a measure of control over it.

Naturally it's the governments of the world who feel they are the ones who should most rightly have the final say about what can and can't be done on the Net and who can and can't use it. Due to their ability to draft and pass laws by which all their citizens are bound, they naturally have the ability to extend their power to encompass the net quite easily.

However, unlike alcohol consumption, road-speed limits, taxation rates, and all those other laws which are passed by government -- controlling the Net is not quite so straightforward.

From a government's perspective, the big problem is that the Net (unlike their laws) knows no geographical borders.

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If the US government decides that all porno spam must carry an advisory in the subject line (as they're about to do) then spammers in other countries can safely thumb their noses and ignore that law.

Likewise, if Canadian laws effectively classify the downloading of commercial music from P2P networks legal, that doesn't mean we can do the same thing here without risking prosecution.

This leaves our law-makers with a bit of a problem doesn't it?

For a start, no laws they pass here, in an effort to regulate or control the Net, will have any effect on Net users operating outside our jurisdiction.

Similarly, Kiwis (or NZ residents) are not bound by the laws passed in other countries.

The results of this situation has lead to claims that, thanks to its total lack of anti-spamming legislation, NZ might well become a haven for spammers.

Similarly, if you want a whole heap of *free* music, why not take your next holiday in Canada and legally download all the music you want onto your laptop's hard drive? At the price of CDs these days, filling a 20GB drive would net you about $9K worth of music -- more than the cost of your airfares, accommodation and internet connection.

So once again, I repeat my claim that it's time to declare a single jurisdiction for cyberspace in the form of a treaty or accord. If everyone agreed to a basic set of laws to control the worst aspects of the Net (kiddy-porn, spam, scams, etc) then we could eliminate the potential for countries to become havens for the perpetrators of such things.

Of course there's virtually no chance that such an accord will ever be struck -- because those who have the power do not like sharing or compromising that right to total power. Sad but true.

Better late than never
Sorry that this morning's column is a little late -- I've been struck down by relapse of a chronic (now acute) sinus infection that will require surgery to correct. One downside of not being allowed to earn any money is that I'm now reliant on the public health system. Needless to say that, despite the government's claims to have addressed such things, and despite the $5Bn surplus reserved for vote-buying, there's a *very* long waiting list even to see a specialist :-(

As a result, I'm currently running on one cylinder and feeling like death itself. Never mind, the antibiotics will kick in soon :-)

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