Anytime you attach the word "Internet" to something, politicians are ready to jump in and try to save us from ourselves. Take "Internet Dating" for example. Since time immemorial, we as a species have gathered in social places, imbibed adult beverages and looked to hook-up with what flips our romantic switch. In the modern age, we go to bars and clubs, even to speed dating events and, last I remember, no one stands at the door running background checks to make sure we were felony free before letting us mingle.

In Illinois though, State Rep. John Bradley is convinced that people meeting and hooking up through online dating websites should undergo background checks or be warned in rather strong language that no background checks have been performed. The same bill, introduced by Bradley last year, passed the Illinois House of Representatives but, died a crash-and-burn death in the State Senate.

Fortunately for the millions of people living in Illinois -- who are perfectly capable of making their own decisions -- the rest of the state Representatives display a little more common sense this time around, and have soundly defeated the bill. Common Sense; 1, Illinois Politicians; 0

Google has announced a partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Infrastructure, and the Kenya Education Network that will result in the use of Google Apps in Rwanda's educational institutions and government ministries, as well as in Kenya's universities. Both of these African countries will now have access to free communication tools that include email, shared calendars, instant messaging and word processing under
their institutions current domain names.

There are two main packages of the Google Apps that are being provided free of charge. With 20,000 users in Rwanda, The National University of Rwanda, the Kigali Institute for Education and the Kigali Institute for Science and Technology will have Google Apps Education Edition. The countries government ministries using Google Apps Standard Edition. 50,000 students at the University of Nairobi will be the first ones offered the Google Apps for Education in Kenya, with 150,000 additional students signing on at a later date.

Google has just issued a press release stating that this initiative will be helping Google to further organize the world's information, and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google's philanthropic Freudian slip is showing, don'tcha think? Gates can run around throwing money at the worlds problems all he wants, but I bet this secures Google a permanent spot in the hearts of many a socially conscious geek.

I just got back from some much needed R & R, and since I left before the most recent Homeland Security PR campaign terror scare, I spent a lot of time on the TSA website the last few days of my vacation trying to figure out the ever-changing array of prohibited items. It wasn't much help. It seemed like they were updating the regs hourly, but the website only every couple of days, and then in English taken from a Chinese takeout menu. "These items are permitted, but to physical inspection" was a particular favorite that seems to have stuck. It's okay, though, TSA love you long time.

Now they seem to have redesigned the site, which was badly in need of an overhaul. Unfortunately, there aren't many changes, and they seem to have given the job to FBI programmers. They certainly haven't made the site more useful to travelers, or anyone else for that matter. It features the same contradictory information--beverages are not permitted except when they are. Unless you're a diabetic who needs juice; then juice is permitted except when it isn't--now in a new, less user-friendly layout. Every single page is now one huge iframe centered in a useless striped gray background, guaranteeing that you will have to scroll not once but twice to access any useful information. Assuming you even notice the information you want has scrolled off the bottom of the iframe. And, of course, the navbar is in the iframe, so it scrolls off the top any time you scroll down the page. Add to that some of the usual Firefox and Safari rendering errors, and you can have the full airport checkpoint experience without ever leaving your keyboard.

There are some improvements, though. We now have a new slogan--"TSA...Vigilant, Effective, Efficient"--some nice pics of mountains to remind us the TSA is "strong" and "formidable," a puppy gallery, and a nice graphic of the layered security model that implies the most important site for security is the airplane cabin. That's right folks. All that fancy new screening is wonderful, but when it comes right down to it, in-flight security is up to the overworked, under-trained flight crew, that woman next to you with the screaming toddler, and "YOU--THE PASSENGER."


[via 27B/6]

Let's face it: Government web site are, as a rule, a pain to navigate. In an effort to remedy that, Google has launched usgov.google.com, a specialized search engine for searching U.S. government web sites. The new site is modeled after Google Personalized Home, and indeed has most of the same features, but with an emphasis on widgets that help you keep track of government updates. For more details, check out the Washington Post's article on the new service.

So Verizon and every other mega-ISP think Google and other content providers are getting a free ride and should be paying on both ends and Comcast might be throttling Vonage to death, none of seems like a trend that's good for consumers, much less the future of the Internet. Luckily I'm not alone: U.S. senator from Oregon Ron Wyden has introduced the Internet Non-Discrimination Act of 2006, which the press is describing as the "net neutrality bill." From Russell Shaw's post on his ZDNet blog, the bill's key points are:

• Preventing interfering with, blocking, degrading, altering, modifying or changing traffic on the Internet;
• Prohibiting creation of a priority lane where content providers can buy quicker access to customers, while those who don’t pay the fee are left in the slow lane;
• Allowing consumers to choose which devices they use to connect to the Internet while they are on the Internet;
• Ensuring that consumers have non-discriminatory access and service;
• Having a transparent system whereby consumers, Internet content, and applications companies have access to the rates, terms, and conditions for Internet service.

Senator Wyden seems like a very clueful guy who knows what kind of slippery slope Verizon and its ilk are about to create. He says, "I am not going to allow a network operator to say a person who buys online for J.Crew can stay on hold for five minutes, and where they make the Banana Republic customer wait 30 minutes." He intends to make his net neutrality bill part of a large telecom package that'll be making its way through the senate this year. Whether net neutrality will be able to overcome telecom's deep-pocketed lobbyists, however, is another question entirely. Head over to Shaw's blog for more quotes from Wyden and the full text of the bill.