The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.

Bill Gates

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The Internet is the Viagra of big business.

Jack Welch

Do we…

accept all the friend requests, seek more followers, and bombard them with more details of our lives than anyone needs to know?

—Eleanor Mills, CNET News

Dennis Miller

Human beings are human beings. They say what they want, don’t they? They used to say it across the fence while they were hanging wash. Now they just say it on the Internet.

Mark Zuckerberg: “Right now, with social networks and

other tools on the Internet, all of these 500 million people have a way to say what they’re thinking and have their voice be heard.”

The Federal Trade Commission has charged Facebook with deceiving consumers with its privacy settings to get people to share more personal information than they originally agreed to, then allowing it to be made public.

—Associated Press, Nov. 29, 2011

Privacy Policy, as of April 2010:

When you connect with an application or website it will have access to General Information about you including you and your friends’ names, profile pictures, gender, user IDs, connections, and any content shared using the Everyone privacy setting...

The default privacy setting is set to “everyone.”

With Facebook’s new Timeline feature, Facebook profits from giving advertisers access to users’ personal information.

Traditional web advertising is now disguised as your friends’ updates.—www.betabeat.com

informal Google motto:

“Don’t be evil.”

Google Chairman Eric Schmidton user privacy:

“I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions. They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next.”

and:

“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”

and:

“We don’t need you to type at all. We know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or less know what you’re thinking about.”

Google’s new [lack of] privacy statement:

What you do in [what you thought was]

relative anonymity today will, after March 1st, be associated with your name, your face, and your phone number.—gizmodo.com

We are more comfortable with our privacy being limited if it allows the content we view to be more pertinent to our lives.

—Austin Zoot, Indiana Daily Student

The anonymity and freedom of the internet give people an opportunity to speak freely without fear of retribution.

—www.healthguidance.org

The argument over pseudonyms — known as the “nym wars” — goes to the heart of how the Internet might be organized in the future.

Activists have learned this year that social media sites can be effective in mobilizing uprisings, but using a real name on those sites can lead authorities right to an activist’s door.–The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2011

Just as traditional journalism fights restrictions on freedom of speech and press,

Twitter finds itself in a global battle over free speech on the Internet. –Reuters

Twitter announced that it would begin restricting Tweets in certain countries—a significant change from just one year ago, when mass demonstrations were coordinated through the social network. –Reuters, January 26, 2012

Survey of teens, ages 12-17 —www.pewinternet.org/

Companies like Reputation.com have begun charging hundreds of dollars to keep users’ less flattering details from the top of search engine results.—www.digitaltrends.com

The Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are designed to cut off access to websites that promote pirated or counterfeit products.

The procedures outlined in both SOPA and PIPA fail this fundamental constitutional test:

The Constitution requires a court to hold a hearing to determine that the material in question is unlawful before the material is completely removed from circulation.

—Stanford Law Review

On January 18 websites around the world “blacked out” in a coordinated protest against the controversial proposed US legislation.

—AFP Relax News

Following an internet demonstration which saw more than 75,000 websites protesting –

a full vote on PIPA & SOPA was delayed “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

[Lamar Smith, sponsor of legislation]

—Digital Trends

The U.S. Supreme Court’s sweeping decision requiring police to obtain search warrants to plant GPS tracking devices on automobiles may broadly enhance Americans’ electronic privacy rights.

—CNET News

A proposed digital privacy bill by Sen. Patrick Leahy would update 1986’s Electronic Communication Privacy Act to require the government to obtain search warrants to access citizens’ personal data.

—Digital Trends

“The premise that an individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy in information voluntarily disclosed to third parties is ill suited to the digital age.”

—Justice Sonia Sotomayor

July 8, 2011—After 168 years, News of the World ceases publication following revelations that the British tabloid had hacked the phones of hundreds of celebrities and politicians.

Whether or not you agree with ‘hack-tivists’ like Anonymous, they expose massive vulnerabilities in areas which are extremely sensitive.

They’ve become the unofficial security testers of the world. —www.digitaljournal.com, Feb. 3, 2012

Online communication meets the definition of social capital, as it provides a network where people can interact in specific forums designed for specific interests, as well as allowing for civic engagement in local communities.

—Schatzie Speaks blog, hubpages.com

Both the American people and nations that censor the internet should understand that our government is committed to helping promote internet freedom.

—Hilary Clinton

What is most important to you regarding internet privacy, freedom & security?