The Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) new rules for online poli...
The Federal Election Commission’s (FEC) new rules for online political speech (WID March 28 p1) are a “big win for bloggers and other online speakers,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said Wed. The FEC limited its changes to paid…
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political advertising on 3rd-party websites, in its compliance with a court order that it define some Internet activity as regulated “public communications” under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). “The final rules should put most of the immediate free speech concerns of bloggers to rest,” staff attorney Matt Zimmerman said on the EFF blog. The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) said the FEC “adopted the strongest protections for small speakers possible under the statutory framework set by Congress,” and that body “should not undercut what the FEC has done.” CDT’s proposal for online political speech, which would raise some dollar thresholds for campaign spending by individuals and groups (WID March 3 p4), is embodied in HR-4900, sponsored by Reps. Bass (R-N.H.) and Allen (D-Me.). Rep. Hensarling’s (R- Tex.) Online Freedom of Speech Act (HR-1606), which would codify the original FEC exemption of the Internet from BCRA and was set for floor debate this week, has been pushed off until at least next week (WID March 30 p10).