Dr Vint Cerf, one of the founders of the internet and now a senior executive with Google, has cast doubt on the efficacy of recent attempts to curb cyber bullying by blocking student access to video-sharing sites such as YouTube.

Interviewed in Brisbane where he was due to make his only public appearance in Australia later today, Dr Cerf said it was clear that many schoolchildren had the wherewithal to circumvent the ban.



"I believe that many young people have those skills that may be well beyond those of their parents and their teachers and will find ways of accessing information," he said in a telephone interview.



Instead, he said, students should be taught about social responsibility.



"This is a classic example of what happens in extremely open environments where everyone has an opportunity to produce content and to put it up on the net," he said.

As a firm believer in the freedom of speech, he said he was opposed to the idea of tighter government regulation or censorship of web-based video content.