Everybody Wants to Rule the World…Wide Web
Recently, numerous political groups have been quite upfront about their intent to exert authority over different parts of the online world. It seems everybody want to rule the Web.
- Dept of Justice moves to regulate Web through accessibility standards.
- FCC proposes to regulate Web access via broadband, claims it’s part of regulating telcos.
- Commerce Dept to set rules to protect Web trust: child protection, copyright, security, e-comm, and ICANN.
- The United Nations ITU (Telecom Treaties) seek to regulate the Web. WSJ calls this a threat to Net freedom.
- Florida claims worldwide jurisdiction on Web #defamation about Florida or its residents.
- Utah seeks to regulate the use of trademarks in domain names.
- And finally: NY Times calls for someone (anyone) to regulate Google’s search algorithm.
The set of government initiatives to control the web appears far more organized and comprehensive than the users and industry groups these regulations would effect. In short, there’s a boom in government’s aspiration to run the Web. And that boom feels like a power grab to claim turf that today mostly belongs to individuals.
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