In what is sure to be a turning point in Internet law, U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady has declared that Twitter must hand over the account information of several of its users to the Department of Justice in connection with the government’s ongoing investigation of WikiLeaks. Twitter, who opposed the demand, was forced into compliance on the grounds that the accounts in question were used by key supporters of WikiLeaks.

You read that last sentence correctly. If the government decides that you are an important supporter of a group that they don’t like, they will get access to your information, regardless of how much it violates the Constitution and due process. Needless to say, the ACLU is all over this one. They even took the case before a magistrate judge who, not surprisingly, ruled in favor of the Department of Justice.

You might ask yourself, “well why should I care?”

No matter your views on WikiLeaks, you should care, because this ruling sets the precedent that the government can have access to your personal information whenever they wish it, regardless of due process.

To compare to the real world (and I’m no lawyer, mind you, so this is purely speculative), let’s say you’re being looked at in a fraud case, and the government wants access to your banking information. They call up [Insert Random Bank Here] and request your banking information for the past year – where you’ve spent, how much you’ve spent, when you’ve spent, when you’ve paid, and how much. The bank tells the investigators to take a hike because their privacy policy states that they won’t just give your information to Uncle Sam like that. From what is understood, at this point, the government would need to take you to court in order to get that information, giving you the ability to defend yourself, with the investigators needing to prove legally that they should be privy to that information. That apparently doesn’t apply here.

With an ever-growing online presence for many people, including the places they visit, the people they know and interact with, photos uploaded, contact information saved in one’s account, credit card information in shopping accounts, the time is right for Americans to seriously consider both how much information they store on the web, and their government’s intentions.

Let’s take a look at it: The U.S. Government opposes WikiLeaks’s journalistic status simply because it’s a whistle-blowing entity. They’ve released thousands of documents proving that the United States committed war crimes during the Iraq War and is involved in some really shady back room dealings with foreign nations. The U.S. Government wants to pass online censorship bills such as SOPA and PROTECT IP, which will only serve the interests of corporations. They want so badly to push these laws through, which will give them control of the Internet, that these things get top billing while things like unemployment and the economy take a back seat.

So whose interests is the United States Government serving? Why, whoever gives them the most money, of course. Simply put, the United States Government has become so disturbingly corrupt, it’s going to take a miracle to keep us out of an Internet dark ages.

Marketing today is not the same it was even a year ago. Where I used to look for ads in newspapers, I look for ads online. Most of the time, the online sales at, Macy’s for example, offer a better selection and sale prices than in stores. It is also all about convenience.

If you are a small business looking to immerse yourself in era of the internet here are a few tips:

1. Step one: create your logo and your slogan. Together, these serve as the building blocks for your marketing.
2. Develop your website entirely before you market it. Do not send users to a website that says coming soon! It will discourage users to return to the site. Make sure your site its completely user friendly and one that users feel is secure. Make users feel like navigation of and purchase from your website is as simple as 1, 2, 3.
3. If you are a Twitter supporter… you must put forth a dedicated effort to keep up with it and provide informational and frequent tweets. Do your research. Learn how to get followed and how not to. It is very easy to get carried away with hash tags (i.e. #study, #tech, #gadget…). Beware of being a spammer. Before you tweet look at your message with a critical eye. Also, make sure you target the right market/people to follow. Don’t just base your decision on a search for key hash tags. Be thorough, research the potential candidate for your product further by seeing whom they follow and who is following them. Additionally, go back in time a bit and see what keywords were previously tweeted.
4. A key thing to get users to your page is an unbiased blog. Provide free, informational and professional advice. For example, if your website is about fitness, offer site visitors free access to “Free Fitness Facts”; maybe a post written by a regular at the gym or an ex-personal trainer. Mention little or nothing about your specific product offered; if users like what they read, they will navigate back to your home site.

Twigee is an application for Twitter.  Twitter has become a second home to me as a writer.  The Peep program that comes on the Eris is mediocre compared to Twigee.  I love this app because  I can see what my friends are up to and read direct messages.  Admittedly, nothing new there.  However, Twigee gives me the ability to search Tweets by keywords, which is something difficult to do on the Twitter website itself.  This is huge when researching topics.

Another key research tool is the Twitter trend tracking.  I can see the trending topics with a flick of the finger.  I can keep up with my favorite tweets and re-tweet any article with ease.  Not to mention it has never been easier for me to follow new friends.  Get Twigee (it’s free), and you will not regret it as you are keeping up with Wasabi Media writers (www.twitter.com/wasabimedia) or myself (www.twitter.com/joeylaw).

Family and friends are number one priority, and the Facebook Lite app allows me to keep in touch with them.  Status updates and notifications are top notch.  The only downfall to this app is that if you are not in a great Internet area, you will have difficulty using the other features.  All the friend requests and other requests are done through a re-direct to the Facebook website and can be quite slow in weak areas.  I replaced the Eris default Facebook app with this one because the default only allowed you to view friends’ and your status updates.  Nothing else.

Bottom line: two fantastic apps.

I have to admit I had Pandora Radio on my phone forever, but only recently had that ‘aha!’ moment, realizing its true potential.  My current music is getting played out, and I want some variety.  Instead of searching for new bands, Pandora Radio has you type in your favorite band (or whoever) and they will find a song playing on the Internet.  Then after that one is over, another song comes on by a similar band.  I already have found three new groups I love in less than a week!

TwitterFon is an awesome app to keep on top of all those great Tweeple that I follow.  One of my favorites is Rev Run from Run DMC.  Back to the app: you can scroll your friends’ messages, see who has re-tweeted your messages or stay current on your inbox with a flick of your finger.

Facebook has been an app since the iPhone came out, practically.  However, it used to be just so-so.  It was refurbished about a month ago, and the new version is awesome.  The layout is now like the iPhone itself where you can select the different menus like, “Friends, Profile, Newsfeed, etc.” very quickly and easily.  The program updates you every time there is a notification on your profile.

I can simply go to the “Notifications” page and see what posts or comments people have made to me.  It saves me so much finger scanning.  I actually used to log into my account through my PC to try to stay on top, but now my home computer is growing cobwebs.

Support my habit, and check me out at Twitter, www.twitter.com/joeylaw, or Wasabi Media to see when new articles drop, http://twitter.com/WasabiMedia.  Visit my Facebook and become my friend, http://www.facebook.com/joeylaw34 … I just may need a place to stay!

Editor’s note:  For faithful followers of Wasabi Media Group, we also have a Facebook fan page!