In his foreword to the latest Reporters Without Borders report on the state of Internet censorship, The Internet Under Surveillance - Obstacles to the Free Flow of Information Online, Cerf decried Internet censorship by governments, and put the onus on citizens of the world to not only keep that censorship in check, but ensure the information that is on the Internet is truthful.
Cerf supported efforts to expunge things like child pornography from the Internet, but warned "free citizens must exercise due diligence to assure that their governments are not hiding political censorship behind a putative moral façade".
"Citizens must do their best to guard against government censorship for political purposes," continued Cerf. "At the same time, they are responsible for trying to distinguish useful and truthful information from bad quality information and must therefore exercise critical thinking about what they see and hear...moreover, where disinformation or misinformation exists, thoughtful citizens have a responsibility to draw attention to the problem, possibly even to provide information to counteract the bad data."
"Free flow of information has a price and responsible Internauts will shoulder the burden of paying it," he said.
The report, which details the state of Internet censorship in 35 countries, ends with a warning by Claude Moisy, a trustee of Reporters Without Borders, that the upcoming United Nations World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in December this year may be hijacked by countries seeking to take advantage of the summit's goal to narrow the "digital divide" to suggest rules that would allow them to curb the free flow of information on the Internet.
"Some call for recognition that the Internet can be used for ends that are incompatible with international stability and security and that can harm a country's unity, infrastructure and economy," said Moisy. "This is perhaps not entirely false, but it can be used to justify all kinds of censorship by paranoid regimes.
"The grave danger today is that the chaotic way the Internet has expanded gives governments sometimes legitimate excuses to try to restore some order to it," said Moisy, listing reasons such as preventing it being used by terrorists, organised crime, money-launderers and paedophiles.
"Others do not want commercial and personal copyright to be rendered meaningless by the free exchange of original material the new technology makes possible. And some want to ensure growth of the Internet does not increase the domination of one language and culture," he said.
Fact: Truth in the Media is up to you
When government give us information, they give it what is called spin. Hardly unbiased - they say this is only their viewpoint. Whom is dumb enough to believe that?
The government's use of spin shows that they cannot be open and honest with the public - proving they have arrogant contempt of us. It is fact: They use half-truths to deceive or give legitimacy to iniquitous actions. They may wish respect and trust - but does abuse of public trust deserve respect?
The Truth is not something that should be manipulated to deceive people. I believe spin is the greatest danger to democracy. How can people make informed opinion, when given distorted view and salient facts are hid or demeaned?
This can be seen in the recent Iraq invasion when UN 1441 and France position was misrepresented to UK public etc. Also in Afghanistan invasion when Blair would not have released Bin Laden to US either.
Cowards in the media pretend not to see - that deception through half-truths is exactly the same motive as out-right liars. They say spin is not as serious.
In effect is it not worse, more malicious, because those using spin profess and defend this dissembling using any link with truth to do so?
Are you afraid to admit that spin is abuse of the truth - a falsehood?
Garry Anderson - Haverhill UK - skilful.com