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Lycos Chief Executive Proposes FCC Web Oversight

"I'm the furthest thing from a puritan, if you get to know me," Davis said, but he added that preserving free speech online strikes a delicate balance versus allowing companies like Lycos and other hosting services to post hateful or obscene speech. "I understand that it's a very fine line."

Davis, speaking at the National Press Club, said the FCC should - in conjunction with the Internet industry - develop an "active and immediate oversight" system to control what he called a "cancer" on the Web - namely hateful and violent speech, as well as illegal pornography.

He was careful to maintain some mutual exclusiveness, however, between the Internet itself and the material people post on it.

"You can't blame the Internet for what is malignant in our own society," he said.

The chief executive of one of the most successful Internet portals also outlined several other congressional priorities, including privacy, Internet taxation and the preservation of online competition.

"Do I believe in additional regulation? Maybe," Davis said. "I know I run the risk of heresy in the industry... (But) we need to come together more than we have."

Davis told Newsbytes that Lycos is a founding member of NetCoalition.com, a major lobbying firm for the Internet industry, but added that Lycos has no additional, individual presence in Washington.

In general, he said, there is not enough industry coalescence into a strong lobbying voice, nor is there enough of an organized push on the part of ISPs and other Internet industry denizens into the arena of building "confidence in the Web through market-driven policies."

On the subject of Internet taxation, Davis said that equality should exist between online and offline commerce, but that there should be no discriminatory, Internet-only taxation.

When it comes to online privacy, Davis added, "I don't believe it has enough government oversight."

Davis also outlined his opinion on the Justice Department's prosecution of Microsoft Corp., saying that the government took appropriate action, but he hesitated in going too far in slamming the software giant, noting that the government push has caused a stifling effect in the company's otherwise powerhouse record of innovation.

He also approached Napster and the issue of illegal music sharing and downloading, saying that while Napster and its ilk violate the profit-driven ideals of American capitalism, such inventions are inevitable. Davis suggested that before too long, Napster-like ideas would learn to work in synch with the music industry.

Reported by Newsbytes, www.newsbytes.com.

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