Thursday, September 22, 2005
Political bloggers demand speech freedoms
WASHINGTON (AP)- Political bloggers who offer diverse views on Republicans and Democrats, war and peace argued on Thursday that they should be free of government regulation.
The notion was echoed by some members of the government agency trying to write rules covering the Internet's reach in political campaigns.
Amid the explosion of political activity on the Internet, a federal court has instructed the six-member Federal Election Commission to draw up regulations that would extend the nation's campaign finance and spending limits to the Web.
The FEC, in its initial rules, had exempted the Internet.
Bloggers told the Committee on House Administration that regulations encompassing the Internet, even ones just on advertising, would have a chilling effect on free speech. The FEC vice chairman also questioned the necessity of any rules.
Full article available here.
Do you think bloggers or even internet campaign ads should be regulated by normal campaign standards? Granted, it is harder to regulate, but in these times it has become one of the best ways to get information out there. As the article notes, $14 million was spent on Internet ads in the 2004 campaign.
To me, it seems like the government is always two steps behind when it comes to regulating technology. Many times they don't realize that something needs to be regulated until there is a problem or it has already become out of control.
What about other types of technology? For example, how long will it take for them to think about regulating campaigning that is done through text messaging?
The notion was echoed by some members of the government agency trying to write rules covering the Internet's reach in political campaigns.
Amid the explosion of political activity on the Internet, a federal court has instructed the six-member Federal Election Commission to draw up regulations that would extend the nation's campaign finance and spending limits to the Web.
The FEC, in its initial rules, had exempted the Internet.
Bloggers told the Committee on House Administration that regulations encompassing the Internet, even ones just on advertising, would have a chilling effect on free speech. The FEC vice chairman also questioned the necessity of any rules.
Full article available here.
Do you think bloggers or even internet campaign ads should be regulated by normal campaign standards? Granted, it is harder to regulate, but in these times it has become one of the best ways to get information out there. As the article notes, $14 million was spent on Internet ads in the 2004 campaign.
To me, it seems like the government is always two steps behind when it comes to regulating technology. Many times they don't realize that something needs to be regulated until there is a problem or it has already become out of control.
What about other types of technology? For example, how long will it take for them to think about regulating campaigning that is done through text messaging?
# posted by Anonymous @ 2:21 PM 
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I agree it shouldn't be regulated. Plus in some cases it just gives people a voice to vent their opinions and share their ideas.
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