Netherlands goes digital. Outlawing pretexting. "Truthiness": Word of the Year. Valleywag’s tech words of 2006

The U.S. can’t seem to make the full plunge into digital TV, but the Netherlands can and did. With 94% of the population on cable it was an easy switch. Only 74,000 Dutch viewers were relying on over-the-air analog signals.

The U.S. Senate approved a bill outlawing “pretexting”, the practice of acquiring phone records of someone without their permission. It’s the very tactic HP used against boardroom members and journalists to determine information leaks from the boardroom.

After an online vote, Merriam-Webster OnLine announced that this year’s Word of the Year is “truthiness.” Coined by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert, possibly the most influential celebrity for online behavior, truthiness means “truth that comes from the gut, not books.”

Silicon Valleyrumor site ValleyWag has posted its list of the top ten tech words of 2006. Included are Web 3.0, consumer-generated media, and number one, a word that mocks the next wave of Internet hysteria, bubble 2.0.