There is a growing public interest in the issue over internet privacy. In no other time has there been like today’s heated debates over it. In the past, privacy laws were there, and were applicable during that era. Then technology became more sophisticated but at the same time user-friendly. This gave rise to internet companies that collect user’s data to build their own marketing niche.

Here comes the privacy issue. Users became open to providing their personal information to these companies. Unknowingly, they are also opening their “doors” to intruders. Using their own supplied information, users are being tracked by companies that thrive on data marketing. Some of these marketers could abuse and take advantage of using this to push their own purpose.

Adding complexity to the issue on privacy is the fact that existing privacy laws are already outdated. Information technology has grown very rapidly, but privacy laws have remained dormant and hence obsolete. Users’ privacy could no longer be fully covered. It is very easy for an interested party to gain access to personal data or behavior of online users. Companies that have possession of these data cannot simply say “no” whenever they are called to turn these over to authorities. This is because existing privacy laws “allow” such access to records.

Blogging is a recent Internet phenomenon, which can be classified in a variety of ways. Blogging could be as simple as someone posting an update of where they are going for the weekend, or just writing their thoughts in a stream of conscious manner. Blogging can be angry too; there are people who have a wide following that read their rebel blogs about everything from government to driving laws. Blogging is also a good way to keep people updated; consider the social networking giants MySpace, FaceBook, and Twitter. MySpace and FaceBook both are used to provide an inside look into a person’s life directly from them, and also what they are doing. This is in the blog section you see; your friends could have anything written there. Twitter is just a more condensed form of blogging, making use of a minimal amount of characters to propagate a message to many people.

With blogging becoming such a popular and widely utilized pastime, people are beginning to see the security issues it represents. First of all, there is the possibility of someone tracking the blogger from his or her page, and maybe even posing as a friend (which isn’t hard to do online) to arrange a real life encounter. There is also the simple possibly that the blogger is just putting too much information out there. While they may talk about other things, blogs are often centered around friends and their activities together. Oftentimes you will see a blog that lucidly describes the place they are discussing, (sometimes even an address…) people involved in the event, and usually a picture attached of the person and their friends. This is everything and more than a criminal needs to find this person and rob, kidnap, or steal from them.

The current Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is wreaking havoc on his civilian’s rights to access the Internet and other mediums freely. The Iranians are fighting back; not in a physical sense, but are evading these new bans.

The Iranians today are blogging on FaceBook, sending anti-leader protest on Twitter, and Ahmadinejad is quaking in his boots. He is desperate to shutdown these opposing forces. These Iranians are headstrong; despite recent additions and blocks, their Internet activity has actually increased!

The most popular content on Twitter currently is related to these Iranians. Protests, photos, and imperative blogs have caught the interest of not only the citizens of Iran, but everyone around the world.

In a less-than-democratic nation such as Iran, holding public protests can have dire consequences, so a grassroots system has taken place; these new candidates for office are doing their protests and advertising online. One of these e-candidates is Mir Hussein Moussavi. One account all about him (Moussavi1388) has won over nearly 7000 fans, and meticulous updates and news spearhead the assault on a bad government.