Despite what Time magazine would have you believe, you are not the most powerful or influential person on the Web. At PC Worldwe love online personals, social networks, and videos of people fallingon their keisters as much as the next person, but without the folks whocreate the Craigslists, MySpaces, and YouTubes of the world, much ofthe Web's potential would be lost among spam sites and other onlinedetritus.

Sowho's making the biggest impact online? We considered hundreds of theWeb's most noteworthy power brokers, bloggers, brainiacs, andentrepreneurs to figure out whose contributions are shaping the way weuse the Web. We whittled the list down to the top 50--well, actuallythe top 62--people, but as you'll see, there are some you just can'tseparate. And don't despair: Get a little more traffic on your Website, and you may show up on the list next year.

Important People #1 through #5

1. Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergey BrinExecutives, Google

When your stock price can top $500 a share, you're collectivelyworth $33 billion in cash, and you run the most trafficked searchengine on the Internet, you can afford to do, well, pretty muchwhatever you want. Sergey Brin and Larry Page's little project fromStanford has grown into the Web's most talked-about powerhouse, and oneof the few names on this list to have morphed into a verb. Schmidt leftNovell to join the board of directors at Googlein 2001 and soon became the company's CEO. Having conquered the onlineadvertising world, Google seems to be gearing up for an acquisitionspree, its headline-grabbing purchase of YouTube marking a big steptoward complete domination of the Web.

2.Steve JobsCEO, Apple

No doubt you're sick of the media bonanza surrounding the every move of Apple's CEO, but when one man's appeal for DRM-free musicreverberates around the world, it's hard to ignore the power he wields.Jobs popularized legal music downloads and legal TV and moviedownloads. And though the iPhone won't be released for five months, itsdemonstration atMacWorld Expo suggested that this product might finally popularize Internet browsing on a mobile device.

3. Bram CohenCofounder, BitTorrent

P2P systems like KaZaA and eDonkey are so last year. The future is all about BitTorrent,the brainchild of math wizard and programming wunderkind Bram Cohen.BitTorrent, developed in 2001, has gained in popularity as a way todownload large files (like movies) by sharing the burden acrosshardware and bandwidth. The technology's adeptness at handling largefiles got Cohen in trouble with the Motion Picture Association ofAmerica, which ordered BitTorrent to remove copyrighted content fromits network. But that setback hasn't slowed it down. Reportedly, morethan a third of all Web traffic now comes from BitTorrent clients.BitTorrent and the entertainment heavyweights have since joined forces.The newly released BitTorrent Entertainment Network launched recentlywith thousands of industry-approved movies, television shows, games,and songs for sale and rental.

4. Mike MorhaimePresident, Blizzard Entertainment

In the world of online gaming, there is World of Warcraftand there is everything else. With 8 million players worldwide,Blizzard earns about $1.5 billion a year on WoW. And each player isbreathlessly beholden to Mike Morhaime for the chance--if it evercomes--to obtain that Blade of Eternal Justice. As with Second Life(see #17), entire real-world businesses are based around the game.Unlike Second Life, though, these businesses--which exploit the WoWeconomy and gameplay--are not entirely welcome.

5. Jimmy WalesFounder,Wikipedia

Many onliners treat Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia as their first and last stop in researching a topic; and its user generated content has become so reliable that Nature magazine declared it "close to [Encyclopaedia] Britannica"in accuracy. The site has been cited as a source of information in morethan 100 U.S. court decisions since 2004. But its popularity has alsomade Wikipedia a target for spammers--so much so that Wikipediatemporarily blocked the entire country of Qatar from making edits. Tothwart spammers, Wales decided to slap "nofollow" tags on externallinks, telling search engines to ignore the links in order to avoidartificially inflating the search engine ranking of the link targets.This strategy ensures that Wikipedia's prominence in search resultswill continue to grow. But Wikipedia may just be the beginning forWales. He recently launched his own search engine, WikiSeek, whichsearches only sites mentioned in Wikipedia.

Important People #6 through #10

6. John DoerrVenture capitalist, Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield & Byers

A former salesman for Intel, John Doerrhas been the king of Silicon Valley venture capital for 27 years,investing in tech businesses ranging from Sun Microsystems toAmazon.com to Google. Jeff Bezos (see #24) once described Doerr as "thecenter of gravity in the Internet." He has also put his money behindhis politics, backing controversial state ballot initiatives inCalifornia involving alternative energy and stem-cell research.

7. Craig NewmarkFounder, Craigslist

His Web site has no ads, charges absurdly low fees to a smallfraction of its visitors, has a ".org" domain, and employs 23 people.Yet despite its humble appearance, Craigslistracked up 14.1 million page views last December and was the 52nd mostviewed site last December according to comScore Media Metrix. Newmark'sCraigslist has become an addiction for many, who impulsively refreshthe listings of free stuff, "rants & raves," and personal ads whileshirking their day jobs. Most importantly, it has almost singlehandedlydemolished the offline classified advertising business. (In the SanFrancisco Bay Area alone, one study found, the site drains up to $65million annually from local newspapers' help-wanted ads.) Take that,old media!

8. Peter LevinsohnPresident, Fox Interactive Media

Fox Interactive Media, owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation,is one of the Web's most powerful entities, controlling 13 sites thatrange from uber-popular MySpace.com to controversial FoxNews.com. Acomplement to News Corp's array of traditional film and televisionproperties, this Internet-focused division ranked among the top 10visited properties in the world in December 2006, according to comScoreWorld Metrix. And there will probably be more to come, as FoxInteractive still has $2 billion in acquisition money to play aroundwith, according to TechCrunch (see #30).

9. Marissa MayerVice president for search products & user experience, Google

Google's product czar oversees the search giant's increasinglydiversified list of Web services and tools, such as Google Maps, GoogleDesktop, and Google Base--aneBay-esque e-commerce service. The first lady of Google joined thecompany as its first female engineer in 1999 (she was approximatelyemployee #20) and worked on developing Google's now-familiar minimalistlook. But don't accuse her of all work and no play; according toGoogle's Web site, she organizes employee movie nights.

10. Chad Hurley and Steve ChenFounders, YouTube

Despite Google's acquisition of the company, YouTubefounders Chad Hurley (CEO) and Steve Chen (CTO) look like they'll beshaking things up for some time to come. The Internet video kingpinannounced plans to pay users for videos, and it has signed severalbig-media content partnerships (with MTV, NBC, Warner Music, andothers). Fellow co-founder Jawed Karim left the company to pursue amaster's in computer science at Stanford University.

Important People #11 through #15

11. Kevin J. MartinChairman,Federal Communications Commission

He may look innocent and unassuming, but Martin is arguably the mostpowerful bureaucrat on the Web. He took over the reins of the FCCin 2005, and to date he has encountered minimal controversy and none ofthe scandals that predecessor Michael Powell suffered. But that doesn'tmean he couldn't cut off your Internet connection like that if he really wanted to.

12. Brad TempletonChairman of the board, Electronic Frontier Foundation

If you've ever found yourself on the wrong side of an electroniccopyright or privacy scuffle, you know that Brad Templeton and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are your friends. They've defended file-sharers sued by theRecording Industry Association of Americaand filed complaints against America Online for disclosing subscribersearch terms; currently they're fighting to unmuzzle bloggers whopublished leaked documents related to Eli Lilly's allegedmisrepresentation of side effects of the drug Zyprexa. Templeton'spassion about copyright and free speech is not surprising. The Webpublishing veteran got his start back in 1989 when he founded ClariNet,a company that published what Templeton calls "the Net's firstnewspaper."

13. Henry ChonCEO, Cyworld

Don't call Cyworld a Korean MySpace; MySpace is an American Cyworld. InSouth Korea,an estimated 25 percent of the population (and 90 percent of people intheir teens and twenties) have Cyworld accounts, where individualsdesign miniature animated avatars to represent them in its uniqueonline space. In 2006 CEO Henry Chon brought Cyworld to U.S. shores.Though Cyworld hasn't yet achieved comparable success here, MySpaceshouldn't rest easy if Chon's track record is any indication of futurecompetition.

14. Shana FisherSenior vice president for strategy and M&A, IAC/InterActiveCorp

IAC/InterActiveCorp chairman and CEO Barry Diller loves his online enterprises. After a buying binge, IACnow owns Ask.com, Citysearch, Expedia, Match.com, Ticketmaster, and ahost of other service-oriented Web businesses. But who tells Dillerwhere to plunk down the cash? That would be his mergers andacquisitions advisor, senior VP Shana Fisher, who determines exactlywhere and when IAC should invest. Her control over IAC's purse stringsmakes her arguably the most powerful woman on the Internet.

15. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus FriisFounders, Skype and KaZaA

It seems like Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friisjust can't stop themselves. First they built the popular (thoughmalware-addled) peer-to-peer file-sharing network KaZaA; then theyfollowed that endeavor up by building the amazingly popular VoIPsoftware Skype. After selling Skype to eBay (see #28) for $2.6 billion,the duo has gone back to the drawing board to produce Joost (formerly"The Venice Project"), a P2P video distribution service that iscurrently in private beta form. Will Zennstrom and Friis pull off atrifecta of killer apps? After being forced to settle an RIAA lawsuitover KaZaA for more than $100 million, they are negotiating directlywith content providers as they prepare for Joost's official launch.

Important People #16 through #20

16. Matt MullenwegDeveloper, WordPress blogging site and software

Matt Mullenweg can barely buy a drink, but this 22-year-old open-source enthusiast developed WordPress,the open-source publishing software favored by blogging diehards aroundthe world. In 2004, WordPress became well-enough known that Webpublishing powerhouse CNet hired Mullenweg to work on it and otherprojects. Mullenweg quit in 2005, however, to work full-time onWordPress, which today is more like a content-management system, withvarious templates, widgets, and plug-ins, and Askismet antispamprotection (we reviewed the service in January 2007.)

17. Philip RosedaleCEO, Linden Lab

Philip Rosedale took the MMORPG (massively multiplayer onlinerole-playing game) concept and spun it into the Web's most talked-aboutvirtual destination: Second Life. But don't call it just a game. Formore and more "residents," Second Lifehas become a first life, where they can do everything in the virtualworld from getting married to launching businesses that functionexclusively within the site's confines. Many real-world businesses haveopened Second Life branches, too. In fact, Second Life has become sopopular that the inevitable backlash has begun: Nick Denton's Valleywag(see #45) has compared the game's economy to a pyramid scheme

18. Jon Lech JohansenCreator,DeCSS decryption program

Better known as DVD-Jon, Jon Lech Johansenis the Norwegian hacker who broke the encryption system used on DVDmovies, thereby allowing them to be copied. He released the DeCSSdecryption program in 2002 and was promptly prosecuted in his homeland.Eventually acquitted, Johansen went on to crack Apple's iTunes DRM(repeatedly) while working as a software developer in the UnitedStates. Beaten to the punch in cracking high-definition DVD formats bythe still-anonymous muslix64, who created "backup" programs for HD DVDlate last year and for Blu-ray Disc in January, Johansen nonethelessremains the renegade that big media fears most.

19. Jerry Yang, David Filo, and Terry SemelExecutives, Yahoo

Google's product innovations and its blockbuster purchase of YouTubefor $1.65 billion may have pushed Yahoo out of the limelight, but theWeb giant led by founders Yang and Filo and CEO Terry Semel arefighting back. In the past two years, Yahoo has acquired onlinephoto-sharing site Flickr and social bookmarking site Del.icio.us. Italso continues to launch new properties such as Yahoo Food and Yahoo Pipes(for creating custom data feeds). Yahoo's recent switch to the Panamaadvertising platform represents another attempt to recapture ad revenuefrom Google. (Full disclosure: The author of this story writes a blog hosted at tech.yahoo.com.)

20. Jack MaCOO, Alibaba.com

Want to do business in China without springing for a plane ticket to Shanghai? Alibaba.comis your best bet. Founded by Jack Ma in 1999, this massively successfulbusiness-to-business e-marketplace is the best place online to meetpeople and trade proposals and product offers. (Ma has been quoted assaying that the firm got its bizarre start when he was kidnapped inMalibu and released on the condition he help his captor start abusiness in China.) In 2005, Yahoo (see #19) made a multibillion-dollarinvestment in Alibaba, which now runs Yahoo China. The venture recentlybecame mired in scandal, when it provided information that led to theimprisonment of a Chinese journalist accused of leaking state secrets.

Important People #21 through #25

21. Brewster KahleDirector, Internet Archive

Since 1996, the nonprofit Internet Archivehas been collecting terabytes of data--old books, movies, music, andradio shows. Meanwhile, another feature, called the Wayback Machine,has been quietly taking snapshots of Web history to memorialize wherewe browsed. Take a look at the Internet Archive's old snapshots of yourfavorite Web sites and you may be shocked at how different they used tobe. Kahle cofounded the Internet Archive with the goal of "preservingour digital heritage," but don't let the humble curatorial pose foolyou: Kahle has also challenged changes to U.S. copyright law in Kahle vs. Gonzales, a high-profile First Amendment legal case.

22. Ray OzzieChief software architect, Microsoft

In 2006, whenBill Gatesabdicated the position of chief software architect at Microsoft after30 hands-on years, observers applauded his choice of successor:software visionary Ray Ozzie. The creator of Lotus Notes and Groovecollaboration software is now charged with ensuring Microsoft'stechnological relevance in an age in which the Web threatens to replacethe traditional desktop OS. A pioneer in computer-based collaboration,Ozzie seems well equipped to do the job. One piece of unsolicitedadvice, Ray: You might consider updating your blog as a first step.

23. Markos Moulitsas ZunigaBlogger, Daily Kos

The left's most high-profile voice on the Web, Markos "Kos" Moulitsas, is a political powerhouse without equal online. His blog draws comments from liberals ranging from Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record)to Jimmy Carter, and Moulitsas even launched a conference (broadcast inpart on C-Span) for like-minded political activists. Kos's endorsementshaven't always triumphed, but his backing of Ned Lamont was influentialin opponentJoe Lieberman'sloss of the Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut last year, thoughLieberman eventually won the general election as an independent. Koshas not indicated any desire to run for office himself as yet.

24. Jeff BezosCEO, Amazon

He may have launched Amazon.comwith the goal of developing it into a big online bookstore, but Bezosproved that shlepping books and CDs across the country was just a firstact. The next round: adding toys, T-shirts, and power tools. And now,for scene three, Bezos has thrown himself into Web services. What doesit mean? Just the start of a new framework for developing Web sites,including "utility computing" services that let you buy server time ata rate of 10 cents an hour. While we wait to find out how hisnewfangled grid computing strategies pan out, don't forget that Bezoswill sell you a Barbie Fashion Fever Grow 'N Style Styling Head for 50percent off.

25. Robert ScobleVice president of media development, PodTech.net

You know a grassroots movement is a success when big business wants tojoin in. And for once, big business--namely Microsoft--did it right.This was largely due to Robert Scoble.At the time a Microsoft employee, he blogged about the company andrevealed a human--and sometimes egg-covered--side of the Redmondempire. The glimpse into Microsoft's inner workings, cool technologies,and smart people shattered (or at least dented) the Microsoftstereotype. Microsoft blogs have subsequently become an integral partof the company's communication with users. In 2006 Scoble leftMicrosoft for PodTech.net, where his video podcast Scoble Show featuresinterviews with geeks. Recent guests include PC World's editor in chief Harry McCracken, who stopped in to debate the eternal question: Mac or PC? Scoble has also interviewed 2008 presidential candidate John Edwards, whose outspoken bloggers got him into hot water.

Important People #26 through #30

26. John BattelleEntrepreneur and chairman, Federated Media Publishing

Entrepreneur and journalist John Battelle has had a ringside seat forthe unfolding of Webs 1.0, 2.0 (he cohosts the Web 2.0 Summitconference with Tim O'Reilly--see #36), and (in its preliminary stages)3.0. In addition, he founded what some would call the Vanity Fair and the People Magazine of the Internet era: Wired Magazine and The Industry Standard.His most recent venture, Federated Media Publishing, represents theA-list of online content. Its slate of more than 50 sites includes 43Folders, Ars Technica, BoingBoing, and TechCrunch. Battelle's 2005 bookThe Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture and his blog Searchblog are required reading for anyone who wants to understand the constantly evolving landscape of the tech industry.

27. Lawrence LessigCEO, Creative Commons

Acknowledging his kinglike status in the field, Wired once called him the "Elvis of Cyberlaw"--and the name stuck. Lawrence Lessigis a professor at Stanford University Law School and founder and chairof Creative Commons (CC), a nonprofit initiative that promotes a freebut nonrevocable licensing system for online works. Designed to enablecopyright holders to share content and yet still control it, a CClicense spells out whether the holder wants to require attribution,restrict commercial use, or allow derivative works under specifiedcircumstances. Musical acts such as DangerMouse and David Byrne havemade songs available under the CC's Sampling Plus license fornoncommercial sharing and commercial sampling, while restrictingadvertising uses of it. A wealth of Creative Commons-licensed media isstored in searchable form at the Creative Commons Search page.

28. Meg WhitmanCEO, eBay

If there's an industry that eBaydoesn't touch, we haven't found it yet. Whether trying to score aPlayStation 3 on opening week or laboring to complete your set ofThundercats action figures, you have probably visited the venerableking of all auctions. But Meg Whitman, whose tenure as CEO of eBay isnow approaching nine years (an era by dot-com standards), has more onher mind than just vintage GI Joe dolls and state quarters. She's alsoboss of the Web's largest online payment system, PayPal, and proud newowner of the most popular VoIP system, Skype (see #15).

29. Ron Wyden (news, bio, voting record)U.S. Senator, Oregon

Oregon's senior U.S. Senator, a Democrat, has long ranked as one ofCapitol Hill most influential voices on technology issues. During histenure, Wydenhas authored or co-authored the Science and Technology EmergencyMobilization Act, the Cyber Security Research and Development Act, andthe controversial CAN-SPAM Act. (Hey, they can't all be winners.) Morerecently, Wyden has introduced a bill called the InternetNondiscrimination Act, which would prevent telecom companies fromcharging more for delivering content faster.

30. Michael ArringtonBlogger/publisher, TechCrunch

An entrepreneur and former attorney who cofounded Canada's answer toNetflix (Zip.ca), Michael Arrington turned his attention in 2005 toblogging about Web startups. Almost overnight he became a sensation,eliciting the kind of fawning attention from dot-com wannabes that isnormally reserved for the likes of men with surnames like Gates andJobs. With TechCrunchproperties now sprawling across six domains, the often-irascibleArrington is indisputably the most powerful technology blogger workingtoday.

Important People #31 through #35

31. Bruce SchneierCryptographer

Whether his focus is the Transportation Security Administration'slatest boneheaded security procedures or the question of how secure a12-character password really is, Bruce Schneier offers the most lucid(and most profoundly influential) musings on computer securityyou're likely to find online or off. Schneier's recent writings onsecurity problems associated with the war on terrorism--abroad, athome, and online--are required reading.

32. Kevin RoseFounder, Digg

Everyone who has a story on the Web wants Kevin Rose's users to "diggit." The former TechTV host (and colleague of Leo Laporte--see #47)founded Digg.comin 2004, bringing the power of social networking to the news. Digg'salgorithm lets users submit their favorite news stories and vote themup (or down). Digg's expansion beyond technology news to mainstreamnews categories in June 2006 prompted BusinessWeek to slap agoofy-looking picture of Rose on its cover along with aneyebrow-raising valuation estimate of $60 million. Whether Rose is amultimillionaire or not, his site has plenty of clout on the Internet.

33. David FarberFounder, Interesting-People.org

Since the early 1990s, David Farber has been running the Interesting-Peoplemailing list. It started as a small e-mail list for friends andcolleagues (the interesting people) and turned into the mother lode ofonline mailing lists. Interesting-People takes on topics from 9/11 totheDigital Millennium Copyright Actto Net neutrality and is rife with highly opinionated commentary fromsome very influential people. Farber is currently a professor ofcomputer science and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Hispast positions include a stint as chief technologist for the FederalCommunications Commission.

34. John Hinderaker, Scott Johnson, and Paul MirengoffAuthors, PowerLine

Political candidates can no longer afford to ignore political blogs, and PowerLineis among the most influential political blogs out there. Thisneoconservative triumvirate--three lawyers who met while attendingDartmouth College--gained their street cred during "RatherGate," whenthey assembled compelling arguments that the Killian documents, which Dan Rather used in a 60 Minutesnewscast on George W. Bush's National Guard service, were fake.Initially, Rather and CBS News poo-pooed the PowerLine bloggers; but inthe end, CBS admitted the forgery and Rather resigned.

35. Vinton G. CerfChairman,ICANN Board of Directors, and vice president and chief Internet evangelist, Google

Owing to his role in developing the TCP/IP protocols on which the Netdepends, Vinton G. Cerf is one of the founding fathers of the Internet.Much of his work on the protocols occurred during the 1970s and early1980s while he was employed by DARPA, theDepartment of Defense'sAdvanced Research Projects Agency. (In honor of their work, Cerf andpartner Robert Kahn received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in2005.) Currently, Cerf chairs ICANN(the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), and in 2005he became Google's vice president and chief Internet evangelist. He hasbeen a strong advocate of Net neutrality, notably in an appearancebefore the Senate Judiciary Committee. He is also working withNASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on an Interplanetary Internet for more-robust space communication systems.

Important People #36 through #40

36. Tim O'ReillyFounder and CEO, O'Reilly Media

O'Reilly coined the phrase "Web 2.0," and he continues to cohost (with John Battelle--see #26) the industry's must-attend Web 2.0 Summitconference. The Harvard-educated publisher laid his foundation incomputer manuals. (Many a computer enthusiast would immediatelyrecognize the intricate black-and-white line drawings of animals thatgrace the covers of O'Reilly books.) But his company has grown toincorporate the new media--blogs, podcasts, and online news--heespouses.

37. Drew CurtisFounder, Fark.com

Lewd, crude, and traffic-generating, Fark.cominvites its community of ad hoc commentators to participate in anongoing brutal but frequently witty dissection of current news storiesthat sometimes turns into news itself. When the site recentlygreenlighted a news item under the descriptive headline "Anna Nicole Smith's condition downgraded to dead,"Reuters and other international news outlets reported the crack. Theenterprise is still primarily run by one guy: founder and smart-assDrew Curtis. In January 2007, he launched FarkTV on the SuperDeluxecomedy video site. He is also scheduled to release a book titled It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap as News in May 2007. (Yeah, but your media watchdog wants crap!)

38. Gabe RiveraCreator, Techmeme

Gabe Rivera has created a powerful content-analysis algorithm thatscans traditional news media and blogs, identifies the importantstories, and organizes them into easy-to-read clusters. His goal: tofind the next big news story so that you don't have to. That's whyinfluential bloggers, decision makers, and news junkies find his siteTechmeme a must-read. Whereas Digg (see #32) ranks stories by vote, andSlashdot (see #44) does so by editorial opinion, the technologyunderlying Techmeme--andsister sites WeSmirch, Memeorandum, and Ballbug--may prove to be themost powerful way to harness the blogosphere's investigative power.

39. Dave WinerBlogger and author of RSS 2.0

If you are wasting hours a day perusing podcasts, then you have DaveWiner to thank or blame (depending on your point of view). He was oneof the inventors of podcasting--and one of the first bloggers. Winerstarted his Scripting Newsblog, which is still well read, back in 1997. He also co-authored theSOAP protocol, an instrumental element in operating-system-independentWeb services. Nevertheless, his work on RSS--the technology behind Webcontent feeds--is what really earned him his fame. That, plus hisability to persuade the New York Times to use RSS and his workin amending it to support media files (giving birth to the podcast),makes him the father of modern-day content distribution.

40. Mike SchroepferVice president of engineering, Mozilla

In the ongoing browser war, Mike Schroepferis a five-star general who leads a massive but decentralizedopen-source army of staff and volunteer engineers. Its mission: toimprove what is right now the best Web browser on the planet, Firefox.The open-source nature of Firefox permits a faster development cyclefor incorporating new features and security fixes. The proof of itssuccess is Internet Explorer 7's adoption of FireFox features such astabbed browsing. See our recent comparative review, "Radically New IE 7 or Updated Mozilla Firefox 2--Which Browser Is Better?"

Important People #41 through #45

41. Perez HiltonHollywood blogger

Love him or hate him, this controversial blogger (real name: MarioLavandeira) has changed the face of celebrity journalism. Hilton'shugely popular Web siteoffers around-the-clock access to celebrity gossip and photos, butthat's not the only reason that he's on our list. Hilton is involved ina legal battle with photo agency X17, which has accused him of usingits copyrighted photos without permission. Hilton claims that postingthe photos on his site is legal, amounting simply to fair use ofnewsworthy images. The $7.6 million federal lawsuit could have lastingeffects on how bloggers everywhere use digital photos online.

42. Paul Graham, Trevor Blackwell, Robert Morris, and Jessica LivingstonFounders, Y Combinator

Rather than sinking a whole lot of money into a handful of companiesthat may (or may not) turn into the next big Google, venture capitalfirms like Y Combinatordole out smaller sums to potential mini-Googles. Y Combinator commitsto two rounds of funding and dispenses less than $20,000 (expensemoney, really) to coders so they can work, work, work on a prototype toparlay into more funding. In exchange, Y Combinator asks for 2 to 10percent of the company's stock. Startups that these guys have fundedinclude Reddit (acquired by CondeNast), Kiko, and Weebly. The namessound funny, sure, but do you remember the first time you heard thename YouTube?

43. Mikko H. HypponenDirector of antivirus research, F-Secure

F-Secure's security news blog,written by director of antivirus research Mikko H. Hypponen, is one ofthe Internet's go-to places for learning about the latest securitythreats. Too bad Sony BMG didn't think so. When directly approached byF-Secure, Sony BMG ignored Hypponen's warnings about a rootkit hiddenwithin the antipiracy software used in certain SonyBMG audio CDs.Though F-Secure didn't initially go public with the news, Windowsexpert Mark Russinovich detailed the rootkit discovery processon his blog. The resulting embarrassment (and a third-party lawsuitover the rootkit) might encourage Sony to take Hypponen more seriouslynext time.

44. Rob MaldaFounder, Slashdot.org

In 1997, Rob Malda (aka CmdrTaco)created Slashdot, the original blog with prioritized news contentdiscussed in posts by snarky (and often highly technical) readers. Infact, the original news story often serves as a mere jumping off pointfor the site's meaty comments and discussions (fodder for links to morenews stories). Even if you prefer Digg (see #32), Techmeme (see #38),Technorati, or some other news aggregation blog, don't forget that itall started with Slashdot. Authors and editors still consider it abadge of honor when their news story is "slashdotted," though increasedcompetition from other sites has stolen a bit of Slashdot's thunder.

45. Nick DentonFounder, Gawker Media

Nick Denton's blog empire is so influential and so blogged about thatyou probably visit at least one of his 15 properties every day throughone route or another. With titles that include New York City page sixalternative Gawker, Washington, D.C., gossip rag Wonkette, L.A. equivalent Defamer, and tech news site Gizmodo,Denton's empire is unquestionably the most successful independentblogging venture on the Web right now, holding considerable sway overindustries from automobiles to Hollywood to high tech.

Important People #46 through #50

46. Sir Tim Berners-LeeDirector, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

What do you do after you invent the World Wide Web and give it away forfree? Start a consortium that works on making it better This Britishscientist designed the first Web browser, editor, and language protocol(HTTP) while employed as a scientist atCERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research), and he founded the W3C in 1994. He has recently spoken in favor of Net neutrality. And like the old financial firm E.F. Hutton, when Berners-Lee talks, people listen.

47. Leo LaporteCreator, This Week in Tech (TWiT) podcast

For at least the past 15 years, the man behind Leoville has created, hosted, and written radio and television shows, most notably the former TechTV show Screen Savers.His personality-driven style demonstrated to the world that tech mediacould be fun. His most recent venture is the TWiT.tv podcast network, alistener-funded enterprise that has gathered some of the old TechTVcrew and put them to work creating more than a dozen podcasts,including the eponymous "This Week in Tech."

48. Mohammed and Omar FadhilBlogging voice ofIraq

Countless bloggers are filled to the bloviating point with opinions about the Iraq War. But the brothers Fadhil, who blog at Iraq the Modelbring a perspective that few others can match--because they're Iraqis,based in Baghdad. Whatever your political leanings, you'll find itimpossible to read the Fadhil's posts without acquiring a deeperunderstanding of the war, its implications, and its after-effects.There's no better example anywhere of how citizen journalism ischanging the world.

49. Jesse James GarrettPresident, Adaptive Path

Garrett, the president of San Francisco Web design boutique Adaptive Path, didn't invent Ajax, the assemblage of technologies and programming techniques that gives Web-based applications such as Zoho's productivity apps and Google Maps desktop software-like interactivity and speed. But Ajax didn't really take off until Garrett identified and named it in an influential essay--andhe remains one the most eloquent advocates for the innovative,effective techniques used in many of the best Web 2.0 sites andservices.

50. Tila TequilaMySpace Personality

If you're friends with singer/model/actress Tila Tequila(nee Nguyen), you're hardly alone. Some 1.6 million MySpace usersidentify themselves similarly. Tequila proved that these MySpacefriendships can generate power, fame, and wealth. In fact, sheredefined the word "friend" to encompass an individual you've nevermet. Despite what you may think of Ms. Tequila's talents, she couldcertainly teach a course in the new Web economy, having channeled heronline popularity into A-list (well, C-list) fame. She has posed forStuff magazine, she has a part in an Adam Sandler film currently inproduction, and her MySpace page currently boasts more than 56 millionpage views and 1,734,374 comments.

PC World's Danny Allen, Liane Cassavoy, Stephen Compton, Harry McCracken, and Narasu Rebbapragada contributed to this story.

Christopher Null is the self-proclaimed 349th most powerful personon the Web. He blogs about technology daily at tech.yahoo.com.