eG8

The E-GB Forum was conference that included chief executives of major tech / Internet firms and politicians on the eve of the G8 summit held in Paris in 2011. It's goal was to give the industry some communication with the G8 leaders on policies related to technology.

The meeting was convened by French President Nicholas Sarkozy and was held on May 24th and 25th. Among the attendees was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt, Wikimedia's Jimmy Wales and Rupert Murdoch.

During the conference, a split between policy makers and tech figures over the role of government in Internet regulation was clear to be seen. While Nicholas Sarkozy made it publicly known that he favoured government actions to protect minors, prevent piracy and encourage economic growth through the Internet, he was countered by Google's Eric Schmidt who warned about the consequences of policy makers overstepping in the digital world with excessive regulations.

The eG8 meeting in Paris was the first of its kind and there has been no announced plan to follow it up in 2012 or any successive year.