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A few weeks ago the FCC came out and declared that they would be supporting the idea of net neutrality. At the time, there weren't any real specifics talked about so many were skeptical of any action being taken.

While no direct action has been taken, the FCC Chairman has published a prepared statement that contains a few details on the finer points of the FCC's stance on net neutrality. It's a rather long statement, but there are some pieces that should be welcomed by proponents of net neutrality.
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This week's spam is like most spam these days in that it's trying to promote some sort of sex-related product. I just couldn't help but giggle when I read the subject line "Create a Love Tornado". Luckily for me, I don't think leather clothes and special toys will ever stop arousing me... oh wait... perhaps I've said too much.

Subject: Create a Love Tornado
If leather clothes and special toys don't arouse you no more, V-booster is here to help your passion.

Sadly, courts generally seem out of touch when it comes to how to apply the law to the internet. In a rare win for common sense, a Canadian court has declared that it's not libelous to link to defamatory content. While it is disturbing that the decision was not unanimous, it's still an important decision that should help protect websites from rediculous lawsuits in the future.

I completely agree that while free speech needs to remain a protected right, most forms of defamation should not be tolerated. With that said, a person who links to another site that is the source of the defamation, shouldn't be held responsible for the words on the linked page. If the Canadian court ruled that such hyperlinking could be consider libel, it'd open some potentially dangerous floodgates. Imagine all the sites (such as this) that have contextual based advertising on it. Contextual ads are dynamically generated and can be linking to any number of websites at any given time. If a site owner could be held accountable for what those ads linked to, it could very well cripple that form of advertising - a form of advertising many websites survive on.

In the end common sense prevailed and we can all hope for continued rational thinking in the various courts of the world.

A few weeks ago, details surfaced of a new bill that could hand the president of the United States the power to basically disconnect computers from the internet for emergency reasons.

While the bill isn't quite completed and the details remain vague, many Web outlets have been in an uproar - fearing the expansion of governmental control of the internet. Unlike most other bloggers and internet news reporters, I'm actually quite comfortable with the president having emergency power over the internet. Sure, such power could be abused and there's always the "slippery slope" argument, but people need to realize the president already has similar power in other areas of our life and that power is there for a reason.

Before I go one, let me assure you that I am generally for a smaller government that has less power and control. My feelings are that the government should exist soley to protect us and to keep things running smoothly while interfering as little as possible. With that said, I don't mind the president having the ability to turn off parts of the internet if it's deemed an emergency and a security risk.
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