It took four months, a grim debate, and thousands of mailing list messages, but the group that sets Internet standards has decided not to support wiretapping. Thumbs Down on Net Wiretaps Gee, that inspires confidence for the next time this issue comes up...

More proof the Internet isn't too large to control: Suppose governments enlist their own population to control others? Hackers' New Tack on Kid Porn talks about a noble goal, but the general idea could be used against any socially unacceptable behavior... such as RAMPANT DVD PIRACY.... ahhhh, I mean... possessing a player capable of playing DVDs on Linux.

This site will be covering moot issues if technology like the Real Networks tracker is accepted... and moving over seas won't work for everybody...

And in the other corner, for the "Internet regulation simply awaits the development of the appropriate technology" team, RealNetworks Helps Pay Piper RealNetworks will integrate AudioSoft's copyright management technology that tracks the webcasters' Internet streams into its popular RealSystem G2 platform.

In the this corner, on the "You can't regulate the internet, it's too big and international" team, we have Down Under Smut Goes Up Over, wherein an Australian site ordered to remove certain content by the Australian government simply relocates to the United States and server Australia from there. "Technically, they have complied with the take-down notice we issued," ABA special projects manager Stephen Nugent said.

Today, two contrasting stories:

I've completed the work on Obtaining A Web Page. It is an information piece meant for those who don't fully understand what happens when retrieving a web page, to give them a high-level overview. It will be vital to understand some of the other conflicts I'm hoping to highlight. Please give Feedback or contribute to a Discussion on it.

"UCITA is a proposed law, designed by the proprietary software developers, who are now asking all 50 states of the US to adopt it. If UCITA is adopted, it will threaten the free software community(1) with disaster." Forget free software, it threatens the consumers (for the same reasons it threatens free software)!

Richard Stallman wrote an article for Linux Today called "Why We Must Fight UCITA". UCITA hasn't come up since I started this site, but it is one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation I know of, where corporations are attempting protect their "right" to milk us of our money with bug-ridden programs, and leave us no way to defend ourselves against it. I'd love to know if there's some good summary of UCITA I could point to.

I'm still at work on the What Is A Web Page? page, but I've finished a new glossary entry: URL. If you're not a tech wizard, you may not really know what a URL is, which is importent to understand Deep Linking, among other things.