Vint Cerf, long considered a pioneer of the internet, on Monday warned against web censorship through his capacity as Internet Evangelist at Google.

The measure comes right before an international gathering in Dubai in which governments are expected to discuss internet regulation and

the International Telecommunication Regulations treaty.

Cerf served at DARPA, serving as a program manger in the Internet’s early conception. He later played an instrumental role in the

development of email.

For its part, Google has launched freeandopenweb.com, tracking global support for those standing against what they

consider web censorship. The online tech giant also prominently displays a link for the initiative via its search landing page.

To display its concern, the company notes that 42 countries currently provide some form of content filtering and censorship. Google also

notes 19 new possibly threatening laws pertaining to the issue have been passed within the previous 2 years.

Just some of the most prominent countries providing online censorship include those in the middle-east and China. Just last week, an

internet outage hit Syria and was thought to be initiated by the country’s government.