The internet is just beginning to grow, e-business is in its infancy, and already our legislators and rule-makers are doing all they can to mess it up before they’ve had a chance to understand what it is. They don’t even try to correct the bad existing laws, such as the so-called "privacy act" that does nothing to protect privacy and is producing vast quantities of unnecessary red tape; and they are getting ready to produce an additional mass of rules and restrictions, as was publicly announced recently in Rome by senior government people.

Parliament is working on new legislation about the protection of minors. Will it be a good law? That seems unlikely. Lots of cosmetics, little that is going to be of any use to help children and families. And some absurd, useless and dangerous prescriptions about the internet, of the sort that will do nothing to help young people but can open the way for persecution and censorship.

I don’t think we should trust these self-appointed nannies. They seem to think that we are all messy children, and rather stupid; they want to force us to use bibs that can easily turn into gags.

Of course I think privacy should be protected, and I don’t think it’s good business to let criminals or thieves run free, in the net or anywhere else. But we don’t need new laws or restrictions; what we need is a better understanding by everyone, and especially the authorities, of how the internet really works. It’s pretty clear from what they say and do that the don’t know what they are talking about – and they don’t seem very willing to learn.

Will the European Union help? Perhaps. Many of their statements are encouraging: they say "global information networks" should be encouraged and not restricted, that freedom of the net should be protected at all cost, etcetera. They should avoid bad rulings and discourage local governments from interfering. But I don’t think we can be totally comfortable. There are quite a few people in Brussels that would welcome restrictions ad censorship.

Some businessmen say: "I don’t care; business is business, civil rights are something else." I think they are wrong, for two reasons. The first is that trade and business grow much better in a free and open environment. The second is that when they start with restrictions and bureaucracy the disease tends to spread, and sooner or later it interferes with business as well.

We should be on alert, in Europe and worldwide. If we want the net to be a tool for business, economic growth and new jobs, we must watch out for overzealous nannies that may suffocate the child before it has a chance to learn to walk.