A proposed EU directive could extend broadcasting regulations to the internet, hitting popular video-sharing websites such as YouTube., reports the London Times. This would mean that websites and mobile phone services that feature video images would have to conform to standards laid down in Brussels.

Personal websites would have to be licensed as a “television-like service”. Once again the reasoning behind such legislation is said to be in order to set minimum standards on areas such as hate speech and the protection of children.

In reality this directive would do nothing to protect children or prevent hate speech - unless you judge protecting children to be denying them access to anything that is not government regulated or you assume hate speech to be the criticism of government actions and policy.

Whilst it may not seem a great loss to some people that there would be no more home videos of "Girls snogging for fun" or "Bad Bus Driver", under such rules it would also be illegal throughout the entirety of Europe to upload and spread informative documentary films such as Alex Jones' Terror Storm, important activist tools which seek to expose the fraud behind the war on terror.

It is safe to say that without the freedom of the internet grass roots activism could never evolve into huge ideologies such as the 9/11 truth movement, which has exploded into one of the most powerful and important movements of modern times thanks to the ease with which the information can be disseminated through the web.