Public Hearing on Internet Communications
The FEC has been holding hearings to try to sort through how to regulate the Internet in regards to campaign finance rules.
So far, blogs have been the main topic, but as blogger Kos pointed out, looking at blogs only narrowly addresses the problem. New technologies on the horizon can and may have the same impact in future campaigns as blogs did in the past election cycle.
One proposed idea is that bloggers should be given a press exemption. Carol Darr of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet points out that such an exemption could open an unforeseen flood gate. Corporations and unions could spend endless amounts of money to exert political influence by just simply calling their activities a blog and proceed without regulations. It would take away the voice of the little people and give it to people who have large amounts of money. According to Kos and many other bloggers, that is the simple beauty of a blog, the little guy gets a chance to speak and people listen.
NPR had a great recap of yesterday’s hearings.
So far, blogs have been the main topic, but as blogger Kos pointed out, looking at blogs only narrowly addresses the problem. New technologies on the horizon can and may have the same impact in future campaigns as blogs did in the past election cycle.
One proposed idea is that bloggers should be given a press exemption. Carol Darr of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet points out that such an exemption could open an unforeseen flood gate. Corporations and unions could spend endless amounts of money to exert political influence by just simply calling their activities a blog and proceed without regulations. It would take away the voice of the little people and give it to people who have large amounts of money. According to Kos and many other bloggers, that is the simple beauty of a blog, the little guy gets a chance to speak and people listen.
NPR had a great recap of yesterday’s hearings.
2 Comments:
I read an interesting article about these hearings today in Roll Call.
This was an interesting quote:
“Doing nothing is not an option,” Don Simon, [general counsel to Democracy 21] said, noting that the FEC is acting pursuant to a court order.
What court order are they referring to?
The RC article predicted that the FEC would find a middle-ground limitation that allowed some regulation, but also protected free speech.
I'm interested to watch this issue develop, and your blog is a great source of information on this issue.
Here's a good summary of the history of how we got to this point:
Courts Rule on Internet Regulation
Basically, McCain-Feingold excluded the Internet from the Public Communications clause. The Supreme Court upheld a ruling that said that they couldn't let that stand as it was, and that political advertising on the Internet in particular has to be clarified.
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