Flutterby™! : Free expression

The usual assortment of fears for the day: The U.N. thinks it should be more involved in the Internet (via /.). Specifically, the head of the ITU, one Houlin Zhao, thinks that's a good idea. If you guessed from the name that perhaps he comes from a culture that doesn't value freedom much, you'd be right. Zhao formerly worked for China's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.

But I'd be just as scared if he came from the FCC. Kevin J. Martin, the new head of the FCC has been quoted as saying of the First Amendment that:

...these rights are not without boundaries. They are limited by law. They also should be limited by good taste.

(via David Chess.) And, alas, we've known for a while that the Democrats are no more wiling to stand up for free expression than Republicans, here it is again: /. also points to a story which has Senator Hillary Clinton signing on with Republicans Sam Brownback and Rick Santorum.

She wants a $90 million investigation to be launched into the impact of games and other electronic media on the "cognitive, social, emotional and physical development" of children, according to a Sunday Times report.

People have been pouring money down that sinkhole for many years now, and the best that anyone's come up with yet is "we just don't know". But we really know by the allies someone chooses; we have, of course, run into Senator Rick Santorum before and I'll let you do our own searches on Brownback.