Facebook recently removed a poll that posed the question: “Should Obama be killed?”.  A total of  730 people took part in this poll prior to its removal. The poll provided a radio button selection between 4 choices: “Yes”, “No”, “Maybe,” and “If he cuts my health care.” The Secret Service has begun an investigation into the origins of this abhorrent question.

The Facebook a fun place to reconnect with friends, a replacement to email and vital marketing tool for businesses. Yet the social site is also becoming a popular place for hateful speech, extremism and rabble-rousing.

Google Chrome Frame speeds up Internet Explorer 8 by about 9.6 times. It also provides Explorer users with the experience of HTML 5 and advanced web applications. Chrome Frame is essentially a functional “cloak” that wraps IE in the experience of Google’s Chrome browser. This may hopefully lure Explorer users away from the Microsoft browser to Chrome.

As posted in Ironpaper’s Current: Google Chrome May Speed Up Your Internet Explorer 8

Idaho has become the top, most spammed state in the US. For instance, for September 2009, Idaho exceeded global spam rates by 7.4%. Global spam rates were 86.4 percent, and Idaho’s rate was 93.8 percent. This study was conducted by MessageLabs, a Symantec company.

It is worth mentioning that global spam rates have soared since the global credit crisis in 2008.

Online video sites saw traffic soar by 41% in the month of August. Nielson Online just released figures to prove industry expectations correct.

The month-over-month growth for August was 2.40% and the year-over-year growth was 18.00% for unique web-video users.

Youtube was by far the industry leader, followed by Hulu, Yahoo, MSN/WindowsLive/Bing, and Nickelodeon Kids and Family Network respectively.

Italian regulators began an investigation into Google News after Italian newspaper publishers made a claim that their content was unfairly used to generate profit for the search giant. One argument the publishers claim is that having their content circulated within Google News is a forced contribution. The newspaper say that inclusion in Google’s news service hurts readership and the ability to generate revenue.

This investigation has now expanded into Google’s primary search business.

The Italian newspaper publishers have also expressed anger over their rankings in Google’s traditional search results. Italian Federation of Newspaper Editors alleged that any organization that refused to have content displayed in Google News Italy was immediately excluded from Google’s main search.

Youtube is the largest video website on the internet. Currently, Youtube is in the progress of negotiating a deal with Holly executives from Lionsgate Entertainment, Sony and Warner Brothers to offer full-length movies for rent on its site. Currently Youtube offers its content for free and makes an income from paid advertising–much in the same way as it’s owner does: Google. If negotiations are successful, Youtube would be directly competing against Netflix, Amazon and Apple for the paid, streaming media market.

Youtube is completely a dominant figure in the world of online video. In July of 2009 for example, nearly nine billion video clips were accessed through Youtube in the United States, which is about 10 times the amount of its closest competitor ( reported by ComScore ).

Congress is reviewing a bill that would give the Congress’ Government Accountability Office (GAO) the ability to audit the Federal Reserve. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) has helped power this movement to limit the Fed’s power by persuading almost two-thirds of the House of Representatives to co-sponsor the bill.

This story was discovered at: http://www.politicalactionnetwork.com/2009/09/congress-questions-the-feds-independence/