Online Coalition = Good: MF = Bad
g’head—mess with the citizens
The interview Bradley Smith, FEC Commissioner, gave CNET is the warning blip on the radar. The Blogosphere responds, creating alliances heretofore considered, um… unlikely, at best.
Kevin of Wizbang!, Captain Ed of Captain’s Quarters, and Patrick Hynes from Ankle Biting Pundits [formerly Crush Kerry] are aligned with Markos Mumbojumbo from Daily Kos, and, to date, almost 2,000 more, against this McCainhisnamenevertobesufficientlydamned-Feingoldyutz offshoot.
From the Bradley Smith interview: In 2002, the FEC exempted the Internet by a 4-2 vote, but U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last fall overturned that decision. ...She says that any coordinated activity over the Internet would need to be regulated, as a minimum.
...It’s going to be a battle, and if nobody in Congress is willing to stand up and say, “Keep your hands off of this, and we’ll change the statute to make it clear,” then I think grassroots Internet activity is in danger. The impact would affect e-mail lists, especially if there’s any sense that they’re done in coordination with the campaign. If I forward something from the campaign to my personal list of several hundred people, which is a great grassroots activity, that’s what we’re talking about having to look at.
Senators McCainhisnamenevertobesufficientlydamned-e-C and Feingoldyutz-e-C have argued that we have to regulate the Internet, that we have to regulate e-mail.
...We’re talking about any decision by an individual to put a link (to a political candidate) on their home page, set up a blog, send out mass e-mails, any kind of activity that can be done on the Internet.
[The exemption for ‘news media’ would not cover bloggers and other citizens because] ...the statute refers to periodicals or broadcast, and it’s not clear the Internet is either of those. Second, because there’s no standard for being a blogger, anyone can claim to be one, and we’re back to the deregulated Internet that the judge objected to.
...This is an incredible thicket. If someone else doesn’t take action, for instance in Congress, we’re running a real possibility of serious Internet regulation. It’s going to be bizarre.
So this is not only about “us goofy bloggers.” It is about all of you here on the Lovely Interweb. If you send an email to your Aunt Gladys and quote a sentence from any candidate’s or party’s publications—if only to make fun of it—you are liable for regulation. If they can regulate the words you send across the ether, next will come regulation of your words in the US Snail, then the words coming out of your mouth across the backyard fence and in the neighborhood Starbucks. The very fiber of American Civilization groans and frays.
How’s that for Freedom of Speech, eh?
Here is the place to start: The Online Coalition
There is a petition to the FEC which I encourage you to read and, if you see fit, to sign. It is not only for bloggers. It is for anyone and everyone who gathers and discusses information on the ‘net.
Next entry: Calling Bull$hit! on the MFers
Previous entry: MF'ers! You're on notice.
