Activists warn G - 8 against the restrictions of Web

PARIS - activists of the Internet and digital entrepreneurs warned Wednesday that if world leaders attempt to limit access to the Web, their restrictions be circumvention and they will be more irrelevant.

The stark message adds to the strength of growth - companies of great names such as Google and Twitter to anonymous Internet militia which attacked government censorship networks - against creeping laws that could one day restrict services many users take for granted now.

The leaders of Group of eight countries most powerful begin meeting in France Thursday to discuss global issues, in the wake of uplift Arabic which have been described as the first revolutions led to the Internet.

"G-8 Governments should say very clearly for once that Internet access is a fundamental human right," said Jean-Francois Julliard, who leads the freedom of expression Reporters without borders group.

Julliard said that more than 60 countries have now a form of censorship of the Internet in place and this number is increasing.

Tony Wang, CEO of Twitter for Europe, said attempts to crack down on freedom of expression are self-destructive.

He refused to discuss the attempts in Britain to respect the right of strict confidentiality of the country against the users of the micro-blogging site. But Wang said a sign in Paris that "the response to bad speech should be more speech."

Earlier this year, Twitter teamed with Google to create a service that enables Egyptians to post messages on the Internet, even after the Government had cut the Web access in an effort to suppress the street protests.

"We take this channel of communication open to assume, at our peril" Director of the regional policy of Google, said Susan pointer.

Support for unlimited Internet access was also from the Government of the United States. Alec Ross, Special Adviser to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said that Washington has recently passed activists for democracy training 28 million to use the tools that allow them to evade filters online.

With the users become more sophisticated and technology, which allows them to establish autonomous networks beyond the control of the Government, some at the meeting said the authorities are fighting a losing battle in advance.

"Government in many ways is absolutely go, if not already has, would become unnecessary," said Shervin Pishevar, the CEO of SGN based in California, which invests in mobile and social games companies. "It will not to have more control with technologies which are coming down the pipe".

This message cannot be allowed by all the leaders of the G-8. Their host, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, had convened specialists of the Internet in Paris on Tuesday to argue that the world online has more real need of regulation.

Maurice Levy, uploaded by Nicolas Sarkozy to organize what was announced as the first "e-G-8" Conference, said participants hoped leaders would take account of their opposition to greater government interference.

"If it changes just (views) by two degrees it will be a great victory", said Levy, Director General of the French Advertising Agency Publicis Group SA.

Requested A what she told the G-8, activist Nadine Wahab said the lesson of the uprisings successful Egypt and the Tunisia should be: "let alone Internet."

"It is not for business, neither governments nor the G - 8," she said.