Ever since news of the NSA’s spying capability and extreme reach began to spread millions of Americans have become concerned even more about their privacy online. At this point the NSA still has very few limitations or restrictions but as support continues to grow among the people more and more companies have also stepped into the fight. This week numerous technology giant such as Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and many more sent an official letter in support of much tighter NSA restrictions.

This is great news for Americans as well as people worldwide simply due to the incredible reach of the NSA right now. Nearly everything online is tracked or monitored by the NSA according to reports and this obviously has many people very upset. The fact that so many people support tighter restrictions is a good thing, the fact that technology companies like these are stepping on board is an even better piece of information. Many experts feel it is only a matter of time before some sort of NSA overhaul or restriction change happens and continued support from companies like this are likely to be the only possible way to do that. More companies are expected to sign the letter in support as well in the coming weeks.

Today Google announced a new policy that will likely become one of the largest anti-piracy functions they’ve ever gone through. Piracy is alive and well online for any number of reasons and currently most if not all piracy websites are thriving by showing substantial advertisements through Google Adsense and other advertising systems. These advertisements are literally the only reason these websites can stay alive and now Google is going to be doing everything they can to put a stop to that.

Starting today Google Adsense will no longer be allowing their advertisements to be displayed on any website that provides pirated material or any website that links to such a website. This is a huge step in the right direction and the US Government is very happy to hear that Google is taking such a step forward. Google is not the only company making this step either, multiple other advertising agencies have agreed to do the same thanks to Google’s support. By cutting off advertising revenue Google and others are hopeful that they’ll eventually be able to put a stop to piracy websites or at least make it much harder for them to operate. This is great news because it should definitely lead to a significant reduction in piracy and that is great news for everyone.

Tonya Maddox of Davidson, NC has started her own online community called The Epic Journey, that will mimic other social networks but with one main difference - it will be a safe and encouraging environment for Christ followers and seekers.

After one friend told Maddox that her young daughter wanted to open a Facebook account and another talked with her about the sometimes disturbing or off-putting comments and images that can appear on your news feed, she decided to do something about it.

“I believe you have to really filter what you take in because what goes in comes out,” said Maddox. “And I feel it is a reflection on me.”

So she created a new social network where her friend’s daughter could interact and connect online with others safely. The Epic Journey has many features that are similar to other social media sites, such as status updates, picture sharing and networking tools. However, members can’t post any explicit material. A series of technological filters will block any questionable posts from going through and those that may slip through the cracks, will be picked up and removed by staff members who monitor the site 24 hours a day.

Besides just socializing, members will be able to do a multitude of other things on the site including locating a new church or bible study, find opportunities to serve in their local community, regionally or nationally or look up Christian concerts and conferences.

“As someone who used to travel two weeks out of every month, I know what it’s like to miss your church or your life group. With [The Epic Journey], people who are traveling can just type in the zip code where they are and find a church to go to,” said Maddox.

The website is only the beginning though. Maddox plans to develop The Epic Journey into a non-profit organization and hold two to three conferences each year around the country that will be geared toward 20 and 30-somethings. The conferences will include musical performances, guest speakers and break-out sessions.

“They will be able to walk away [from these conferences] better equipped for life,” said Maddox.

Unfortunately, it is often this age group that gets looked over, according to Maddox.

“We lose people after student ministry and we send them out, just hoping they’re equipped,” Maddox said. “But often they are looking in the wrong places for love and they don’t know how to have a relationship with Christ.”

Maddox has already held several small networking events and plans to continue hosting them on the last Tuesday of each month. The events are for strategic networking and will feature keynote speakers with their own stories of perseverance and hard work. The events are held at the Homewood Suites by Hilton in Davidson, NC.

Although she was quite successful in the more traditional corporate world in the past, Maddox said this venture has brought her the most joy, outside of getting married and becoming pregnant with her first child.

“This is the most exciting thing I’ve embarked on in my life,” said Maddox.

Maddox said she has seen the power the media and social networking can have and she’s excited to see what her “cleaned-up” version will be able to accomplish. She hopes it will change people’s lives.

“People walk around like they’re in a black and white movie,” said Maddox. “But when you add the encouragement of Christ, you can watch those lives turn to color.”

Children on the internet is becoming more and more of a hot topic as the number of young internet users continues to increase dramatically. Fortunately for parents there are a number of child protection laws on the books already that keep children safe online and just this week the FTC added even more regulations designed to protect children online.

The FTC officially added a number of new protections to the 1998 Children’s Online Protection Act that will protect children on social networking sites as well as add privacy when it comes to apps and data sharing. The idea behind the changes is that more and more children are beginning to use social media so more needs to be done in order to protect them and their personal data.

There were numerous changes implemented and the FTC is hopeful that they will be very successful. Many privacy and security analysts also agree that these will be very beneficial and should help parents feel safer about their children being on the internet. Of course this still won’t make everything perfectly safe for children but it is absolutely a step in the right direction according to nearly everyone so at least for now children are a little safer online.

Security online has become one of the most pressing topics among many lawmakers. Due to the rapidly increasing number of attacks occurring online there is obviously plenty of reason to do anything and everything to protect the people, and today the House of Representatives made the first big step towards doing that.

The bill that officially passed the House still has plenty of additional revisions and work before it’ll become a law but the fact that is making progress is definitely great news for everyone. Because the bill will likely become a law sometime soon everyone will finally be able to feel safer and more protected online. It might take some time before things become a reality.

While the House has officially approved the bill, it is still unknown whether or not the Senate will approve it. Protecting online privacy and security will definitely be a final outcome of this bill regardless of what happens which is absolutely great news, but whether or not this will become the final law is yet to be seen.

Hopefully in the next 6 months the government will finally have some sort of online protection act, if they do it will bring all sorts of great news to all Americans and will likely bring safety to the entire internet in the form of reduced online attacks and maliciousness. The amazing news is that it will likely be soon and will most likely offer absolutely amazing protection.

The SOPA and PIPA bills currently in the works in Congress have millions of internet users scared and concerned about the future of the internet and what could become illegal in the near future. As a result of these bills today was marked as the official day of protest against the bills and multiple major websites took part along with millions of smaller websites.

Overall it seems that the protest was in fact a success in that it helped spread the word to millions of people that were otherwise unaware of the issue entirely. SOPA and PIPA were by far the most popular topics of the past few days and because of this millions of people are now a little bit more educated and involved in the entire process.

The good news about the entire fiasco is that the massive protests seem to have worked well. Obviously the bills in question have not been cancelled or modified at this point but there were dozens of responses today from congressmen and senators all around the country voicing their lack of support for the issues. Assuming all of this actually holds up as we’re hoping this could actually bring an end to both of the bills and once again assure everyone that internet privacy and safety is guaranteed thanks to the lack of government tracking and constant monitoring; this is truly great news for everyone online.

Just yesterday Verizon Wireless announced that they were going to begin charging an additional fee of $2 for customers to pay for their service online with a credit card. Immediately after announcing this the news spread quickly as millions of customers became incredibly upset over the additional charges. The good news is that today Verizon changed their mind on the fee and officially announced that they were no longer going to add the fee. It is quite astonishing that Verizon made this decision just one day after announcing the fee.

Verizon customers apparently raised enough complaints to make Verizon forget all about the new fee that was scheduled to be added next month. This is great news for anyone and everyone that uses Verizon for cell phone service as it will save quite a bit of money. The fee may have seemed small enough but the millions of customers that complained made it quite clear that they were not interested in being charged more to pay for their bill the way they wanted to. Verizon has officially apologized to everyone for the apparent lack of oversight when making this critical decision and they have made it clear that they now understand how much such a fee would impact their subscribers. It is amazing news to see that massive corporations such as Verizon do still respond to complaints and arguments from customers, especially when there are just so many of them in one single day.