Democracy can stamp out criminal activity on the internet

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 15th Jun 2010

The European Parliament has called upon national authorities and regulatory bodies to work together to stamp out child pornography and other criminal activity on the internet.

MEPs were debating the future of internet governance which is currently carried out by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a not-for-profit organisation based in the US.

Although ICANN is generally believed to have done a satisfactory job, it today faced calls for greater transparency and diversity in its membership.

Commenting from Strasbourg, South West MEP Graham Watson said;

"The internet is a tremendous force for good in the South West as it is around the world. It has connected communities, created wealth and promoted the exchange of ideas.

"The internet is global public property and it therefore deserves an open and transparent organisational body."

Watson also believes this approach can help prevent criminal activity including child pornography;

"Criminal gangs use the freedom of the internet to evade authorities. MEPs today called for global cooperation to help shine a light on the darker corners of the internet and delete illicit material at source."

The European Parliament's views will be taken into account as the European Commission calls for an internal review of ICANN.