Google CEO Eric Schmidt has an inspiring piece in today's Financial Times praising the Internet. Here's a sample:

In just a few years the internet has moved from the periphery to the centre of our lives. We have not seen such a life-changing communications technology since the invention of television. As a result it is often easy to forget that the world wide webis still in its infancy: today just 10 per cent of the world's information is available online. Like any child, the internet is pushing at the perimeters of established systems - business models from the last century, traditional media, long-accepted notions of national jurisdiction, even old concepts of control.

This is a challenge for everyone. Some of the "pushed", most likely governments with the power to regulate and legislate, will inevitably feel the need to push back. But rather than focus on how to control the web, legislators should concentrate on how to give internet access to more people in more countries.

Beautiful words. But it sounds to me like he's urging governments to not "regulate and legislate" the Internet, despite their natural temptations to do so. So why is Google tempting Congress to do just that with net neutrality regulations? Perhaps Schmidt didn't get the memo.