Too many rules will tangle the web

[Ian Brown]

An article in today's Telegraph article starts promisingly:

'REGULATION of trading over the internet should be "with a light touch" and
left almost exclusively to the industry itself - this is expected to be the
principal recommendation of a Cabinet Office study being sent to Prime
Minister Tony Blair in two weeks' time...'

But then goes loopy...

'Another idea is the "walled garden" suggested by the interactive
television sites being planned - a selection of approved and watched
suppliers allowed to do business through the medium. But the report may
warn that the gardens might then need to be patrolled to prevent monopolies
and to allow small newcompanies access.'

Who on EARTH came up with *this* imbecilic idea?!

'The third way of reassuring consumers is to have a "trusted third party",
like a bank, vouch for the people at either end of the deal. Barclays is
setting up an alliance of banks to create Identrust to do this
internationally...'

Do they *still* not get the point that people walking into physical shops
don't have to show their passport for every transaction?!

This nonsense is repeated so often I'm starting to wonder if there is
actually a hidden aim: to help the taxation of e-commerce by monitoring it
all in vast detail. You can see the regulation now: "All shops in our
wonderful 'walled garden' must supply details of all transactions,
including identity of the customer..."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000116192758126&rtmo=Q93pmxkR&atmo=FFFFFFrX&pg=/et/99/6/14/cbnet14.html