In mid-2008, Rasmussen conducted a poll to find out how Americans felt about Internet regulation. Almost half said that they thought the government should regulate the Internet in much the same way that it regulates television and radio.
This trend toward government regulation of the Internet is apparently due to fears about child pornography and other tasteless websites being available for children to view, as well as social networking abuse by predatory adults.
A Glance at Censorship.
China is not the only place that censors Internet content. The trend is on a rise worldwide. For example, in the UK, a page wtihin Wikipedia (and in some instances, the entire Wikipedia site) was blocked because of a complaint filed with a quasi-governmental agency known as the IWF. Because the offending content was an image of an album cover, there was the possibility that Amazon's US shopping and auction content would be blocked from UK viewers.
Within the censorship arena is the increasing volume of complaints from politicians who feel that blogs are not correctly reporting the facts about their campaigns or other political news. 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.
Nationwide Filtering.
If it passes Parliament, Australia's 'great firewal' may become the most obtrusive form of government control of the Internet in a democratized country. 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. Despite the fact that the filter is not totally accurate or effective, it slows down Internet speeds by up to 86%.
Internet Taxes.
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. Do not be surprised if Internet taxation becomes an issue in upcoming years.
Licensing and Disclosure Requirements.
There has been talk by some legislators that people should be licensed to use 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. While it is unlikely that this idea will gain traction, it is not unreasonable to speculate that content writers will need to follow licensing and disclosure requirements for their web publications. 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.
The foregoing paragraphs are just a glimpse at what has been going on and what future trends may be. 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.
The first step toward protecting oneself from Internet regulation is to publish a legally sound privacy policy statement on your website. You can find out how to write a privacy policy at the NotGuru blog.
You can find periodic updates on the latest Internet regulatory trends here: Internet Regulation articles at the NotGuru blog.
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