Google is gracing nearly 50 airports in the U.S. with free airport wi-fi for the holidays. Two of the airports – Seattle and Burbank – will keep their free airport Internet access, and offer free airport wi-fi permanently. (The full list of airports offering free Google wi-fi is below.)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today published its updated rules governing the publication of endorsements and testimonials by “consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities” (in other words, everybody). The updated rules governing online testimonials and endorsements arguably now cover bloggers, Internet marketers, affiliates, and others who promote (including through endorsing or testimonial) products or services on the Internet. The bottom line is, if you talk about a product or service, and if you put it out on or via the Internet, and if you stand to gain on it, you’d better disclose that relationship.

Dr. James Heilman felt that it was time to demystify the psychiatric profession, and so, in his own effort to do so, he published the 10 ink blots which make up the Rorscach test, on Wikipedia. The good doctor’s action in making the Rorschach ink blots so publicly available on the Internet has lead to his being investigated, and facing charges of, well, making public that which psychiatrists wish to hold secret.

It had to happen sooner or later. The heydey of the wild frontier Internet, where ISPs had unfettered artistic license to create the landscape they wanted, is over. Like Adam and Eve in the proverbial garden of Eden, it was theirs to lose, and lose it they are about to, it seems. Now, as some Internet providers are moving to restrict bandwidth usage and charge outrageous amounts for “over usage” – much like the phone company once did, legislation has been introduced to regulate ISPs, and even to have a Federal agency oversee them – much like the telephone companies now do.

A massive Internet outage, loss of telephone service, and even 911 emergency service communications were the result of an intentional act of sabotage against five different fiber optic cables in the Silicon Valley Bay area of California today, according to authorities.

You may have heard a lot of talk about “the triple bottom line” lately, and you may be wondering just what the triple bottom line is. The triple bottom line (also expressed as TBL, 3BL, or “people, planet, profit”) is a way of measuring an organization’s social and enviromental impacts as well as its financial health. But what about a triple bottom line analysis of the Internet?

If you are having trouble with Internet connections between Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Maldives, Pakistan, Qatar, Syria, Taiwan, Yemen, or Zambia, you’re not alone. Three undersea cables were cut this morning, leading to a global disruption of Internet connectivity. And this is the second time this year this has happened.

By now just about everyone has heard the story of the “Bush shoe thrower” – the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush, and called him a “dog”, while Bush was talking at a press conference in Baghdad. Muntadhar al-Zaidi threw both his shoes and the epithet at Bush before denouncing him as having brought death and sorrow to Iraq as a result of six years of war. What is amazing about this story – among other things – is how quickly that incident made it around the world. And that is because of the Internet.

Esther Dyson has gone on record as comparing the choice to remain anonymous on the Internet to abortion.

A German court has ruled that an IP address is not afforded the same privacy protections that Internet users enjoy for their names and other personally identifying information, even though a user may have a static IP address which is directly linked to the user alone.

As millions head to the polls today, people are wondering “where can I watch the presidential election results on the Internet?” Many want to sneak a peak at the election returns online from work or school. In fact, in one of the most anxiously watched elections for U.S. president in recent memory, it is predicted that a record number of people will be monitoring the election returns in realtime, and many of them will want to monitor the election results on the Internet. So we’ve scoured the Internet for you to determine where you can most reliably tune in online to watch the presidential election results. Read on below!

A new hotel network security study by Cornell University entitled “Hotel Network Security: A Study of Computer Networks in U.S. Hotels” has proven that using the wireless Internet – and even cabled Internet – at your hotel is almost always inherently insecure and unsafe.

Regardless of one’s politics, or political party affiliation, one can’t deny that Barack Obama has done a pretty good job of using the Internet. Barack Obama’s website and other Internet fund raising efforts have raised him more than $200 million – again, that’s just Internet-raised donations! Now, amid heightening speculation that threatens to reach fever pitch, Obama is signing people up in droves to be able to receive a text message announcing his choice for his vice-presidential running mate, with his “First to Know” Internet campaign.