Although yesterday was chock full of workshops and welcomes, the MW2008 Conference official kicked off this morning with Michael Geist as the Plenary Speaker. Geist, from the University of Ottawa, Canada, describes himself as a Law Professor and “trouble-maker.”

His thesis is that we need to have an engaged and active Hands On the Internet Policy.

He began with a look back at the web in 1997, and some of the prevailing ideas of that time:

government and policy needed to stay away from the web,

and

leave it to the industry and community that could self regulate as they go along,

but the truth is that this was a myth.