Posted with permission of the author, Sunny Woan (Santa Clara University), this article emphasizes the importance of preserving the unfettered development of alternative journalism. In its analysis, the article takes on a global perspective of blogosphere regulation, examining the European Union’s approach alongside China and the United States. Unlike the national borders of the physical world, people create borders in the cyber world based on communities. These online communities tend to be more segregated by homogenous interests than the natural diversity of world nations. This article contends that first, due to the unique conditions of the blogosphere, traditional regulation is infeasible, and second, the most effective means of standard setting on the blogosphere is by self-regulation. The article then explains this concept of self-regulation and proposes a hands-off approach by the government to the blogosphere.

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The Blogosphere: Past, Present, and Future