With ISP's being increasingly forced into the role of internet watch-dogs, will there come a day when users must be licensed to access the web?. The idea that a government could license web access is a debate that springs up constantly on newsgroups and message-boards. Usually it's felt such a broad strangle-hold on the web would be technically impossible. There's too many routes to the web, and controlling and monitoring them would not only by draconian, but implausible. There are usually comparisons made by supporters between the potential damage caused by a driver, and the potential damage caused by a poorly secured PC.

The argument was brought up this past September by the Associated Press, which suggested some form of mandatory education program before users are allowed to access the web. Robert Cailliau, one of the co-designers of the internet, suggested the same thing as early as 1999. Licensing cell phone users came up as a possible solution this week over at bCentral.

The majority of web users don't take such an idea very seriously; but we've seen no shortage of technology legislation that makes little sense (Super-DMCA comes to mind). Legislating morality is becoming a hot topic, and ISP's are slowly being forced into the role of internet police. As fear of prosecution on the part of ISP's grows, Will there come a day where users must sign a 14 page TOS from their ISP promising they'll "play nice", secure their PC's, and stay away from pirated materials - or suffer a disconnect?