senator

Senator Ted Stevens has already achieved a certain kind of blogosphere and Internet infamy for his comments about teh Internets being "a series of tubes" (click the image for a dance remix of his address to the Senate). Now, he seems to want to compound that infamy by passing legislation that would block most social networking sites - including not just MySpace, but virtually any site that allows user contributions, including Wikipedia - from any school that receives federal education funding.

Senator John McCain, Republican from Arizona has recently introduced legislation that if passed could have major implications on the blogosphere. The proposal called "Stop the Online Exploitation of Our Children Act" would require Web sites to remove user profiles posted by sex offenders. In addition commercial Web sites and blogs would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or face a fine of up to $300,000.

Someone in the US Senate put a hold on S.2590, a bill that would compel the government to publish an accessible database of federal spending. Political pundits on both sides of the blogosphere wanted to know one thing:

Proponents of Network Neutrality have been relentless at highlighting individual Congress members' failings to protect Internet freedom. Senators John McCain and Ted Stevens have felt the heat in past weeks. This week, the heat is on Virginia Senator George Allen, who MoveOn.org believes tried to pull a fast one on his website.

Dean Florez, a state senator in California, will hold a hearing on April 3rd about AOL's proposed implementation of a two-tiered email system.

Ron Wyden (D-Or) has introduced legislation to prevent telecoms and cable companies from developing a two-tiered network where fees would be charged to content providers to prioritize their Internet traffic.

Senator Clinton is demanding the Federal Trade Commission look into charges the racy computer game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas contains sexually graphic footage and activities in the game .