On Thursday, April 17, Stanford University will host the FCC Commission for a public hearing in Palo Alto on the future of the Internet. Those interested in the issue of Net Neutrality are urged to attend.

From Save the Internet's site:

Comcast has been caught blocking BitTorrent, Verizon has been caught blocking text messages, AT&T wants to inspect and filter Web traffic. These big companies' efforts to discriminate online are crushing competition, slowing innovation, and endangering free speech. With so much at stake, it's encouraging that the FCC's first move is to quickly seek public feedback and expert counsel about the future of the Internet.

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Many nonprofits have closely followed or participated in the Net Neutrality movement, which has sought to create safeguards that would prevent broadband providers from placing restrictions on Internet content and communication.

Now, Ars Technica is reporting a new bill in the House that attempts to "ensure that the historic, open architecture nature of the Internet will be preserved and fostered for the consumers, content providers and high tech innovators of the future."

Network neutrality looks poised for a Congressional comeback as Representatives Ed Markey (D-MA) and Chip Pickering (R-MS) prepare to introduce the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008.

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Nonprofits interested in social networking and technology fundamentals will want to look into two new Webinars from NTEN:

Friends for a Cause: Campaigns in Social Networks

January 16, 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. PST; $25 for NTEN members, $50 for non-members

We've all tried to open up a Web page and received an error such as “404 Page Not Found” or “500 Internal Server Error.” For those of us unfamiliar with such conventions, this can be frustrating. Is this a user error or a server error? Should you try again later or call your Internet service provider?

Everyone is talking about Facebook, a social-networking site that also allows you to aggregate and monitor content from around the Web.