After talking to a lot of people at numerous meetings in the past few weeks, I became convinced that there is far too much interest in bad news stories about the perceived evils of the Internet and not nearly enough good news stories about what the Internet has achieved and made possible in the 30+ years of its existence.

If that wasn't bad enough, the picture painted of the Internet and its 'evils' has reached the political level but the unbalanced reporting and scare stories make genuine political debate all but impossible. There is the real risk of bad legislation, made for the wrong reasons and aimed at the wrong people. Cries of "Something must be done!" usually lead to the wrong thing being done.

In fact, I felt sufficiently motivated to set up a Website about it: www.if4g.org.

If4g - Internet: force for good - is a personal attempt to do something about all this and to show the great good the Internet has brought about in the 30+ years of its existence. The Internet and the Web (not the same, although often confused), like many new inventions, have the potential for good and bad. It's not the invention that's the problem, it's the people using it.

I, personally, have benefited enormously from the Internet since 1984 and the Web since 1993. That's why I felt motivated to start If4g and try to set the record straight. Hopefully, you will also feel motivated enough to visit Internet - Force for Good and have your say...