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Venezuela makes online speech a minefield. Since the time of the Romans, the transition from republic to one-man rule has always been eased with the co-option of laws.

On December 20, the Hugo Chávez-controlled Venezuelan congress passed, and he signed, a law that devolves all power over online content to the executive. The congress coming in soon is much less agreeable to Chávez, hence the speed at which this was hurried through.

Christmas is a holiday that brings people together, so perhaps it should be no surprise that Facebook has become a part of millions of peoples' Christmas experiences. For the first time in its history, Facebook was the number one most visited website in the United States on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year, according to traffic analyst firm Hitwise today.

That's worth noting. HitWise reported last year that Facebook was number two behind Google on Christmas. People say that Facebook vs. Google will be the Web's biggest battle in coming years - but it looks like Facebook has already won the battle for Christmas.

Just before the holidays, we reported that, based on the raw traffic to its site, Amazon looked to be well on its way to having a great Christmas season. According to a report from Amazon this morning, Amazon's 14th holiday season was indeed its 'best ever,' with 6.3 million items ordered worldwide on December 15 alone. However, while Amazon provided us with a lot of data about how many items it shipped, it did not make any announcements about its revenue or profit yet, which could potentially look less rosy.