Regulation Threat Alarms Political Bloggers

[NVMojo]

Mar. 10 – The realm of electronic communication has given millions of Americans a cheap but sturdy pulpit from which to criticize, praise and debate just about anyone and everything. But as a boon for the campaigns of political candidates, weblogs and websites have raised concern among legislators and advocates for tighter campaign-finance rules.

Your privacy is strictly respected. Recent federal initiatives to apply campaign-finance laws to online political discourse have generated criticism from activists seeking to protect the online "marketplace of ideas," as well as from reform groups wary that the web is becoming a platform for big-money digital electioneering.

Though current campaign-finance laws do not govern what individuals say about candidates on the Internet, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) technically requires the disclosure of expenditures for activities that advocate for a candidate’s election. But the FEC has not finalized rules dealing with funds put toward websites, Internet ads and blogs. Some argue that online activity should escape most campaign-finance regulations because of the Internet’s unprecedented accessibility as an inexpensive, sprawling form of mass communication.

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http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2916

[liberal N proud]

1. Who said there was freedom of speech in this country?

[NVMojo]

2. some of us are still holding on to what we thought this country was about

and it's hard to let it go ...

[Lowell]

3. And this is from the party

that advocates less government intrusion in people's lives? If they think they can make a buck off anything they will try to regulate it. Gotta watch what we say on the internets.

[AndyTiedye]

4. Numerous Surveys Show Dems Get News From the Net, Repubs from Faux

So it is only a matter of time before they start trying to shut all these sites down.

[RazzleDazzle]

5. bloggers need to be treated precisely like commentators in

any other medium considered the press -- e.g., Bob Novak, Molly Ivins. They don't come under any compaign finance fules and neither should blogs.

As for advertising, their papers aren't covered and neither should blog sites.