FEC May Regulate Web Political Activity

[No2W2004]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041013/ap_on_el_pr/internet_politics

21 minutes ago


By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - With political fund raising, campaign advertising and organizing taking place in full swing over the Internet, it may just be a matter of time before the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites) joins the action.

Well, that time may be now.

A recent federal court ruling says the FEC must extend some of the nation's new campaign finance and spending limits to political activity on the Internet.

Long reluctant to step into online political activity, the agency is considering whether to appeal.

But vice chairwoman Ellen Weintraub said the Internet may prove to be an unavoidable area for the six-member commission, regardless of what happens with the ruling.

"I don't think anybody here wants to impede the free flow of information over the Internet," Weintraub said. "The question then is, where do you draw the line?"

[bobbieinok]

1. under bushco????? obviously against the democrats

[knowbody0]

2. just try suckers

[Momof1]

3. TRY TO DO YOUR JOB ON THE TV FIRST......Morans

This is sick.

They won't monitor the present programming on TV, they just want to jump straight to the internet.

[symbolman]

4. Should send them this link I guess

Here's my latest flash work "Our Media is Broken" - one good resource for going after Sinclair Broadcast Group.

All the links are clickable and will help with this cause, link this if you would please or pass it around, the more people that get it the more damage we can do to those bastards!

Tell everyone to turn up those speakers and we'll get the word out with MEDIA :)

http://web.takebackthemedia.com/geeklog/public_html/staticpages/index.php?page=20041013042650709

[AndyTiedye]

5. because the net is the only level playing field

and the repubs don't like level playing fields.

[tom_paine]

12. Exactly correct. Nothing less and nothing more

You can bet your ass the regulation will be as Soviet-style as every other Bushevik Endeavor.

The Bushevik Party will be 100% spared (oh, maybe a token effort to give them plausible deniability) WHILE JEWS, BLACKS, LIBERALS, COLLEGE STUDENTS, AND OTHER ENEMEIES OF THE EMPIRE WILL HAVE OUR ASSES 'REGULATED' OFF.

That's just the way Totalitarian Nations like Imperial Amerika work.

[saigon68]

6. They had better regulate the Sinclair Smear-Boat veterans

And leave their fucking hands out of here.

[SoCalDem]

7. You bet the big-boys are scared.. They had a monopoly on this stuff

until the "internets" PROVED that it's truly a community out there.. Look at US.. We are scattered all over the globe, but we have organized, and it scares the crap out of them..

Their success, until now has been the fact that it's hard for ordinary people to "find" each other and unite against them..

You bet they will try anything and everything to stop us in their tracks...

We better start looking at ways to "hook up" via OUT-OF-THE-USA ISPs.. There is probably a way to do this, but some of us are clueless, and will need lots of help :)

[Catfight]

9. One word: Revolution! If they try this, it's revolt time!

[w4rma]

8. Considering that unlike broadcast/cable TV and radio there is unlimited

bandwidth on the internet, I haven't yet seen a need for any additional regulation of "political activity" on the internet.

[htuttle]

10. They don't have jurisdiction!

A little recent history lesson: Back during the 1990's, Congress attempted to pass an ill-considered piece of legislation called the Communications Decency Act as part of a telecommunications bill. It could have been interpreted to outlaw cussing on the web, among other things, and presaged the Patriot Act in many ways. At the time, I recall at least one member of Congress stating that they hadn't realized the web went outside the United States. :eyes:

The justification for this piece of completely unworkable and repressive legislation was that the law was needed to stop 'Child Pornographers, Drug Dealers and Terrorists'. I'm kind of surprised they didn't throw in Necrophiliacs and Cannibals for good measure. Luckily for free speech, the legislation was amended to remove the CDA portions.

Although most people never heard about it, Cyberspace declared it's independence as a result of this legislative initiative on Feb 8, 1996. While most would call this declaration purely symbolic, it's actually just a statement of reality. The web is too large for any one government to control the whole thing.

http://www.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html

[GinaMaria]

11. Bloggers getting the best of bush? the emporer wears a wire

Wonder how closely related this is to the Internet buzz about the royal lump on *'s back during the debates?

[Robert Oak]

13. Since they won't monitor TV and do something

All this tells me is the Internet is having an effect. We can speak
out on the Internet and they don't like it.

[bemildred]

14. Cheap talk.

There is diddly squat they can do about the internet.
They can shut it down or deal with it, there is no half-internet.
If they cannot stop SPAM, how are they going to stop people from
political organization and activism?