Barack Obama

Barack Obama has enjoyed adding 100,000 friends to his MySpace page, and other campaigns are even adding other MySpace pages as well as joining into the Second Life craze that has struck recently, with many people looking to expand the internet as one of their major sources of advertisement.  Each candidate has their own website of course, with a great amount of information on their individual views, their position on the issues, and what they wish to see happen in the country.  Never before has the democratic process reached so close to home, now pulling in a new generation of voters to guide the future of the country.

Is this a good idea?  Should candidates really be losing that personal and physical touch?  However, this is actually one of the most prevalent ways to get information out recently, with websites popping up everywhere where political opinions can be viewed, and with sites such as digg.com becoming popular it enables sites with good content that is full of information people find fascinating or helpful to rise to the top, and help spread the word to the masses.

Grass Roots Political Campaigns

Seems almost like a grass roots type campaign.  Yet it does not involve any physical interaction from the candidates.  This is the ultimate tool that can be used to spread the word quickly about progress and updates in their campaign without ever leaving their house or office and interacting with those they so desperately need votes from. This seems to be a bit of a strange position to be taking, but with the internet reaching so wide and far, it is a tool that many politicians are utilizing, and to great practical effect.

Many are even recruiting volunteers to manage their spaces in Second Life as well as MySpace so that their time is better spent and their ability to reach even more people is extended further.  Seems almost strange that volunteers are now able to help on campaigns that they never would have been able to work on before, but thanks to the internet, they are able to show support for their favorite candidate in a way never before seen.

How much further can this really go, with the possibility of the internet growing into an even larger portion of the campaign, it is very much possible to keep track of all the happenings and events in almost every political campaign and race without ever leaving the comfort of your home.  Whether this engages the ordinary citizen on a more direct level will remain to be seen, and the outcome this will have on the voter demographic at the next election will surely be profound. Now if only the election voting could be handled online, securely it would truly be a virtual world…

Starting an internet business is much easier now than it was ten years ago. Now it is possible to use open source software, outsource software development overseas, have your website hosted in the cloud, and register a domain for $10. However, there is also more to consider when you’re starting an internet business. Here are answers to many of the most frequently asked legal questions by entrepreneurs getting started online.

When you pay to have your website designed you should double-check with your agency whether or not you will own copyright to the work. This should be outlined in your contract. If you do not discuss this with your designer they are unlikely to claim that they own copyright at a later stage, but they would certainly be entitled to. In the UK the creator of the copyright will own all of the work unless it was completed as a result of a work-for-hire agreement, or you have a contract with the designer that says otherwise. The same also applies if you use the services of a software developer, a writer, or even, potentially, a translator.

In this instance where you may have a dispute with your designer, it’s best that they don’t have the ability to take down your website. That’s why you should control access to where the domain name points and you should also make sure they are not given unregulated access to the server once things are up and running. Try not to become too reliant on one supplier - it’s an easy mistake to make. You are probably best to use a separate provider for domain names, hosting and web design.

When you’re starting an internet business you’ll be able to decide between starting a limited company and starting out as a sole trader. If you are going into business with a partner, you will have to become a partnership rather than a sole trader. As a partnership or a sole trader you will not have to submit paperwork to Companies House, however you will have full liability for anything that goes on with the business. As a limited company you will have more reporting requirements; however you will not be liable should your business get into debt. In the long run, should your internet business be successful, you will most likely have to incorporate your business and become a limited company.

It is most likely the case that you would like UK law to apply to all transactions, and for any court proceedings to take place in the UK. That’s why you have customers accept terms and conditions, and you should also have terms of use and a privacy policy which say the same thing. It’s important to mention that UK law will be used, and that any legal proceedings will take place in the English courts. It’s possible for UK law to be judged in an international court, or for an international law to be judged in the UK. This is particularly relevant for an internet business.

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