Internet

Royals! Redskins! And a really really bad breakup! Today's online trends have it all. First up, royal wife Kate Middleton is again under the media microscope -- fortunately for her she has all her clothes on this time. The royal baby (or babies!) received loads of attention yesterday and now the online discussion is moving toward what we should name the baby (or babies!). I'm sure the Duke and Duchess will consult Reddit before the momentous decision. Meanwhile, Redskins rookie sensation  Robert Griffin (a.k.a.

The arrest of a Baltimore blogger this weekend showed how a normally mundane bit of police work - the serving of a warrant - can be complicated in an age of Twitter and Internet radio. It briefly put a national spotlight on what normally wouldn't even make the local news. Frank James MacArthur, 47, a steady presence as an observer at city crime scenes and a cab driver by trade, took to Twitter and an online radio service to stream his dealings with police at his home Saturday to execute an arrest warrant connected to 2009 weapons charges for which he had received probation before judgment.

Contrary to what a recent letter writer may think ("Internet sales tax will hurt small businesses," Nov. 18), collection of state sales taxes on online retail transactions will be a boon to small businesses in Maryland. Small businesses currently face unfair and detrimental competition from online-only retailers who exploit the loophole in our nation's sales tax laws to avoid collecting and remitting state sales taxes. The current legislation - the Marketplace Fairness Act and the Marketplace Equity Act - before Congress is designed to eliminate the 6 percent price disadvantage and level the playing field for small, in-state businesses.

Richard Guerry grabs his audience with a mix of information on responsible Internet use and numerous real-life examples of what can go awry, everything from the consequences of hitting an accidental "reply all" to a personal photo that turns viral. The 36-year-old founder of the New Jersey-based nonprofit Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-Phone Communication brought his message to Maryvale Preparatory School in Brooklandville on Monday. He spoke of the young teen who sent a racy photo of herself to a would-be boyfriend along with the question "Am I hot?"

If you've paid attention to Internet news over the past year, you might know that the notion of a "free Internet" has been hotly debated and seen by many as under siege. Internet activists recently stopped SOPA and PIPA , two bills that would've given broad powers to government and companies to shut down copyright infringing websites. Now, a U.S. Congressman, Republican Rep. Darrell Issa , is stoking an online debate on what a potential "Digital Citizens' Bill of Rights" could look like.

OMG P911 In social media slang, the above means “Oh my God, parent alert,” and that is just what parents have to be these days ... alert to what their kids are doing and saying in this digital world. With all of the social media outlets out there - from Facebook and Myspace to Twitter to Instagram to cell phone texting - kids today are communicating and challenging each other in a completely new way, doing and saying things they wouldn't if they were talking face-to-face, and parents need to know more before they allow it. “I always explain to parents that social media should be like driving,” says deputy first class Robert Kovacs, a member of the Harford County Sheriff's Office's Fallston Secondary Schools School Policing Team.

Progressive Insurance has reached a settlement with the family of Kaitlynn Fisher, days after her brother's online rant against the company unleashed a torrent of backlash on social media. Fisher's family will receive a payment in the "tens of thousands," according to its attorney, Allen W. Cohen of Annapolis. "It's exactly how much we asked for," he said. The settlement prevents Cohen from filing a complaint with the Maryland Insurance Commissioner, he said, and the payment is separate from the judgment rendered by a jury in Baltimore Circuit Court last week awarding the Fishers $760,000.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch said Tuesday that Internet gambling, which he had put on the agenda for the special General Assembly session on gambling expansion that begins Thursday, will not be part of the bill lawmakers consider. "We're not going to take it up, period," the speaker said. Busch said that after conferring with Stephen L. Martino, head of the Maryland State Lottery, about the implications of online gambling, he had decided that lawmakers do not have enough information to move forward with such an expansion.

It's unwise that the General Assembly will be considering the expansion of Maryland's gambling program to a sixth casino before its five existing slots parlors is up and running. But the idea of legalizing Internet gambling at the same time - with little opportunity for public debate or due diligence by legislators, and no precedent from other states - is downright reckless. Internet gambling may be the future of the industry, but that future is not yet upon us, and there are too many unanswered questions - legal, logistical and social - for the state to make a headlong rush to legalize it. The idea first surfaced in a serious way this week in a memo from Maryland Live developer David Cordish about the conditions under which he could drop his opposition to the proposed sixth casino inPrince George's County.