Sarkozy angers privacy groups as he promotes state control of web

French President Nicolas Sarkozy sparked fury among internet rights groups after he called for increased state internet control at last month's e-G8 forum.

In his opening  speech at the first-ever G8 forum into the future of the internet, president Sarkozy, said he wanted to see tougher privacy and copyright laws introduced.

The internet shouldn't be "a parallel universe outside laws and morals," he said, adding that now "the internet is an integral part of most people's lives, it would be contradictory to exclude governments".

However critics who were watching the two-day conference on the future of the internet, which preceded the official G8, argued that this was just another way for more government interference.

President Sarkozy, who by pushing through the Hadopi law and its three-strikes internet disconnection rule for alleged illegal file sharers in France, has already introduced the most draconian copyright infringement laws in Europe.

A joint statement from rights groups La Quadrature du Net and Access Now said: "The world's most developed economies are poised to impose strict copyright enforcement and heavy-handed government regulation of the internet.

"Voices of civil society are speaking out, urging the G8 leaders to adopt citizen-centred policies ensuring privacy and freedom of communication such as net neutrality, and combating online censorship, private policing and surveillance."

Other countries didn't appear too wild about the president's suggests either. The Government has said that it will "not be regulating the internet any time soon".

The German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said that Germany had demonstrated a better way through self-regulation by web companies.

More than 45 digital rights groups have joined forces to campaign against president Sarkozy's plans, launching a G8: Protect the Net petition.