Carbon emissions and carbon footprints have been in the news a lot over the past few years. But while politicians and celebrities have taken up the cause of reducing these, it hasn’t really affected the individual, the ordinary man and woman on the street, yet. But the issue could soon be personalized in a very real way thanks to individual carbon rationing.

Despite a great deal of consternation by users of their myriad services about the huge amounts of data gathered on users by Google, their founder and CEO says that they are trying hard not to be “creepy.”

The iPhone has gone on sale in China, ushering in a new wave of American – Chinese relations, based not on cold war tensions or brinkmanship, but on smartphone technology.

The Obama team campaigned partially on technology matters and have kept more than a little of their attention there. Now they have revamped the White House Web site and have done it using open source!

An AT&T executive has asked the firm’s employees to contact the Federal Communication Commission and argue against its plans to enforce net neutrality. The request controversially suggests staff members to use personal e-mail addresses when making the arguments.

Bosses of some of the Internet’s best-known Web sites have called for the Federal Communications Commission to stick to its plans to enforce net neutrality principles. It follows lobbying by 72 Democrat congressmen asking the FCC to go easy on the policy.

Finland is set to become the first country to give every citizen the right to access broadband services. It’s just announced a 1Mb minimum will apply from next July, ahead of a target of a 100Mb minimum by 2015.

Australia, a country about twice the size of the entire European Union, has begun a daring and complex project to bring very high-speed fiber-optic broadband to virtually all of its citizens.

Some have called the Internet the new Wild West without law or order. It seems the hot issues that have been cropping up lately revolve around distinguishing the line between free speech and harassment. The Texas police have had enough as they are now planning on arresting those impersonating and insulting them on the Web.

With worries over cyber-attacks growing, questions are beginning to arise about what powers the Obama administration has in defending against coordinated attacks against critical American sites.

The British government says it plans to impose a “broadband tax” before next May. If approved by parliament, as seems near certain, it would mean everyone with a phone line would pay £6 (approximately $10) a year towards expanding the broadband network.

In a move that will make a start to keeping one of Barack Obama’s campaign promises, the FCC will be proposing a set of rules aimed at preserving and enforcing internet neutrality.

The Obama administration is working to draw a broadband map of the U.S. to help set policy, but the cost and actual utility of such a map is under fire from some quarters.

President Obama today gave a speech to schoolchildren across the United States. He mentioned a number of companies in the speech, praising Google, Facebook, and Twitter. However, like he has in the past, he singled out the Xbox 360 as an example of what isn’t a good activity for kids to be involved in. Microsoft must either be spitting mad at the dishonorable mention or loving the publicity.

Civil liberties groups are up in arms over a new bill proposing that the president of the United States should have executive control over the connection between private sector networks and the Internet. This control would happen in case of a cyber attack infringing on national security.

There have been conflicting opinions regarding user and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rights when it comes to laptops crossing the border, but the DHS has now clarified the rules.

West Virginia’s governor is hoping a generous supporter is responsible for five laptops which arrived at his offices without warning. But it’s looking suspiciously like a truly old-school Trojan tactic which could be being used nationwide.