Letter: Long live the Internet

Sir: I fear that Andreas Whittam Smith has missed the point in his report of the recent Oxford Union debate (27 May).

I do not share his assumption that the demise of the nation state is something that we should fear. To take the examples of censorship (Whittam Smith uses the less emotive term, "policing") and of nationalism ("common identity and culture"): a reduction of the nation state's influence in these areas is surely an outcome to be desired.

Whether or not the Internet will prove an effective tool for the reduction of trade barriers, for the empowerment of individuals, and even for the lessening of global tensions, remains to be seen. But this potential is not a threat; rather, an opportunity for positive change.

My own worry is not that the Internet will mean the end of national control over the populace; rather, that the all-too-powerful nation states, democratic or not, will, by over-regulation, succeed in preventing the Internet from fulfilling its liberating promise. I would guess that the winning vote at the Oxford Union was at least partially engendered by a spirit of optimism, rather than by one of fear.

CHRIS BRODY

London SE19