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 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 Look at Censorship.

Internet censorship is rising, and it is not just limited to communist China.  By way of example, in the UK, a page within Wikipedia (and in some instances, the entire Wikipedia site) was blocked from UK web viewers because someone filed a complaint 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.  The regulatory environment may be further impacted by journalists and mainstream media who are seeing online content take a bite out of their readership and sales.  While Internet news publishing is not currently regulated in the US, it would not be surprising if politicians begin to talk about journalism requirements or some form of authority rank 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.  Ostensibly for filtering out child pornography, the firewall has sparked intense debate, including free speech arguments.  Reportedly, the government will ban at least 1300 websites. A problem is the lack of transparency or right to dispute a ban because the government has not disclosed the urls of the sites that will be on the banned list.  Internet speeds are reduced by up to 86% but despite this, the filtering is not 100% accurate and is therefore not effective. 

Internet Taxation.

For years, there have been rumors in the US about a federal internet tax, but nothing has come of it.  Many Americans, including Congressional representatives, are leery of an Internet sales tax.  However, state governments are eyeing the Internet as a source of much-needed revenue.  For instance, the state of New York has imposed a tough state sales tax law that would make non-resident vendors responsible for reporting taxes on sales to New York residents.  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 about licensing Internet use.  Their rationale is that if a person has to get a license to drive a car, he or she needs to get a license to surf the Internet’s information highway.  License requirements would include basic knowledge about anti-virus programs, email use and so forth.  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.  Regulatory accountability is not a far-fetched idea, particularly if one views copyright suits, politicians complaining about the accuracy of news and blogs, and stringent regulation of medical claims with respect to health products.  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.

One thing that web publishers can do, right now, to start to protect themselves 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.

From time to time, Internet regulation and trends are reviewed here:  Internet Regulation articles at the NotGuru blog.

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