Google and YouTube are partnering with POLITICO to host an event on Monday at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. to talk about technology’s role in democracy and the political process.

The Google Blog offers more details.  “With less than six weeks until the midterm elections, we wanted to hear from some of politics’ most creative minds about what innovation and democracy mean in 2010.”

The U.S. Department of State has launched a global video contest on YouTube that coincides with the United Nations’ first International Day of Democracy.

The demand for the FTC chair to recuse herself from the Google and DoubleClick antitrust review yielded a surprising little twist.

The numerous agencies of the federal government possess thousands of documents and pieces of information that can’t be found by Google’s crawlers.

At the moment, Google’s stock is slightly above $600, and the company has a market cap of $187.42 billion.  Given this evidence, it would be hard to say that Google doesn’t like money.  But one onlooker has called the search giant greedy and wonders if it will “ruin the Internet.”

Search and word-of-mouth are by far still the most effective means of advertising and driving website traffic, according to a new survey, but it may not be time to sing the dirge for print just yet.

The OpenCRS database of research performed for Congress, and the Secrecy Report Card from OpenTheGovernment.org, have helped make more information about the federal government available online.

The newest feature on Google News – comments solicited from participants in a news story – won’t be part of anyone else’s news.

Google may or may not be on democracy’s side in countries such as Thailand and China – CEO Eric Schmidt apparently isn’t saying.  Yet, while speaking in South Korea, Schmidt made clear that the Internet, as a whole, can help spread this particular system of government.

The U.S. Treasury Department wants to crack down on Internet businesses like eBay and Amazon.com and require them to share their customer’s personal data with the Internal Revenue Service.

The 2006 elections mark a new era in the way that candidates for various political offices are promoting their platforms to the voting public. Google Video, YouTube, and Google Earth are some of the virtual avenues that today’s candidates are utilizing to reach out to the Internet voter.

Chinese users of MSN Spaces, a blog service available through MSH China, find certain terms rejected by the portal.

What next for European unity, following the rejection of the idea of a European constitution by voters in France and The Netherlands?
Stuart Mudie wonders if Europe needs better PR: