Larry Clinton

Virtually all Americans did exactly the same thing when they heard about the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001-they sought information. Some picked up the phone, some turned on the TV, some went on the World Wide Web and some sent email. All of those channels are tied in some way to the Internet.

If

someone really wanted to terrorize America, they would take away its information. Imagine how much more frightening Sept. 11 would have been if it had been coupled with a cyberattack. Without a steady flow of information, no one would have known whether simultaneous attacks were being carried out in California or Texas or London.

The Internet is one of our most critical infrastructures and possibly the most difficult to defend. It is inherently international, interactive and interdependent, and it is constantly changing. And no one owns it. If a traditional regulatory structure were used to control the Internet, many regulations would be outdated before they were published. Even worse, such a regulatory process could provide nefarious users a roadmap of Internet vulnerabilities. Moreover, strict technological regulations could strangle the world economy, which is what many terrorists want.