Hancock, speaking at the UK ISP awards in the Marriott, Grosvenor Square, in London, said China, Iran and Vietnam were particularly bad at understanding the Internet. Egypt is pretty repressive too, he said, adding: "Some governments fear freedom of expression."

He said that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo - after stern criticism worldwide - had started to talk to Amnesty International. "Democracy, freedom of speech and access to knowledge," he said, are a sine qua non of the Internet. He praised Egyptian and Iranian bloggers who had been thrown into jail, released, and then started blogging again.

Hancock said some governments didn't want people to speak up about repression but the Internet gave everyone the chance to have freedom of expression, whatever. µ