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A Look at Trends in Internet Regulation

During the year 2008, Rasmussen conducted a poll to find out where Americans stood with respect to Internet regulation.  49% said that they thought the government should regulate the Internet in much the same way that it regulates radio and television.

This trend toward government regulation of the Internet is due to fears about children being exposed to online violence or pornography and abuse by social networking predators. 

A Brief Review of Censorship.

Internet censorship is rising, and it is not just limited to communist China.  In the United Kingdom, for example, a page within Wikipedia (and in some instances, the entire Wikipedia site) was blocked due to a complaint filed with the IWF, a quasi-governmental agency.  Because the offending content was an image of an album cover, there was the possibility that Amazon’s US auction and shopping content would be blocked from UK viewers.

Also in the censorship arena is the increasing volume of politicians who are complaining about blogs not correctly reporting the facts about their campaigns or other political events.  Add to this mix the journalists and mainstream media who are seeing online content take a bite out of their readership and sales.  While news and political reporting are not currently regulated in the United States, it would not be surprising if politicians begin to talk about licensing requirements or some form of authority ranking for blog owners and other online reporters.

Filtering on a National Scale.

If it becomes law, Australia’s ‘great firewall’ will be the most restrictive mandatory government control of the Internet in the world’s democratic countries.  The goal is to filter out child pornography, but the firewall has nonetheless sparked fierce debate, including free speech arguments.  The government reportedly will ban at least 1300 websites, but it has not disclosed exactly what sites are on the banned list.  While the filter will not achieve 100% accuracy and its effectiveness is therefore questionable, it will nonetheless slow down Internet speeds by up to 86%. 

Internet Taxation.

For years, there have been rumors in the US about a federal internet tax, but nothing has come of it.  A federal Internet sales tax does not hold a lot of appeal for many Americans.  Budget-challenged state governments, on the other hand, are eyeing the Internet as a source of revenue.  New York state, for instance, imposed various vendor and affiliate registration requirements that would make non-resident sellers responsible for reporting New York state sales taxes.  Amazon, which has a strong worldwide affiliate program, has sued and as of this writing, a decision has not been rendered.  Watch for Internet taxation to become an issue in upcoming years.

Licensing and Disclosure Requirements.

As odd as it sounds, there has been some talk by a handful of legislators that people should be licensed to surf the Internet.  Their reasoning is that is someone is required to have a license to drive a car on our nation’s highways, then it is not unreasonable to expect a person to get a license to surf the Internet’s information highway.  Licensing requirements would include having to pass a test about anti-virus programs, email use and so on.  It is unlikely that this idea will gain any traction, but on the flip side, licensing and disclosures for Internet content publication may not be so ludicrous.  With copyright violations, politicians griping about the accuracy of news, and regulations concerning what can and cannot be said with respect to medical or health related products online, public accountability is not a far fetched idea.  Take, for instance, Canada’s proposed Internet regulations (to be heard in February 2009) which would address Canadian copyright issues and might impose a rating system on websites that is similar to movie rating systems.  Given Americans’ desire to see Internet regulation that is similar to radio and television regulation, the logical conclusion is that Internet publishers would need to register with whatever agency regulates online publication.

Conclusion.

This article provides a glimpse at what has been happening and what the future may hold.  Because so many people refuse to take responsibility for their children’s Internet activities and for their own Internet use, it is likely that we as Internet publishers will see an increasing amount of regulatory proposals.

There is something that web publishers can do right now to protect themselves, and that is to include a legally sound privacy policy statement on their websites.    Learn how to write a good privacy statement and policies page at the Not Guru blog.

You can find periodic updates on the latest Internet regulatory trends here:  Internet Regulation articles at the NotGuru blog.

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