Regulations!?! How Dare They!!

Re: Ireland, Emilienne, and Philip T. Nash, Winning Campaigns Online: Strategies for Candidates and Causes, 2001. Chapter 12: "Recruiting Volunteers," pp. 181-195.

In Chapter 12 there is a small section called "Regulatory Issues" that touches on the regulatory aspect of political campaign web sites. The section notes that web sites supporting political candidates and issues are subject to not only the usual laws and restrictions pertaining to other web sites, but also by the Federal Election Commission (for federal campaigns). However, in the examples given, two federal rulings contradicted one another. It seems that "grassroots" web sites have more leverage than a "corporate" web site affiliated with a political campaign or issue. Perhaps this is why many corporations start "astroturf" grassroots campaigns because they know they can get away with more (at least in the eyes of some federal courts.) If there is going to be a regulation on web sites they must be made across the board - no exceptions, no special treatment - it shouldn't matter who builds the web site - if it is going to generate funding for a political candidate or issue during a campaign then the same regulations must exist for all types of web sites.

Should political grassroots web site be regulated differently then corporate web sites? Should political web sites even be regulated?