OK, since some of you have e-mailed me concerned about it, I'll do this post about the issue & the rules. - F.E.C. to Consider Internet Politicking.
Federal election commissioners are preparing to consider how revamped campaign finance laws apply to political activity on the Internet, including online advertising, fund-raising e-mail messages and Web logs.
Anyone who decides to "set up a blog, send out mass e-mails, any kind of activity that can be done on the Internet" could be subject to Federal Election Commission regulation, Bradley A. Smith, a Republican commissioner, said in an interview posted Thursday on the technology news site Cnet.com.
But it is unclear how much appetite the F.E.C., criticized in the past by advocates for election reform as being dysfunctional and ineffective, really has for trying to govern Internet activity.
"People should not be alarmed," said Ellen L. Weintraub, a Democratic commissioner.
"Given the impact of the Internet," Ms. Weintraub said, "I think we have to take a look at whether there are aspects of that that ought to be subject to the regulations. But again, I don't want this issue to get overblown. Because I really don't think, at the end of the day, this commission is going to do anything that affects what somebody sitting at home, on their home computer, does."
After the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law was passed in March 2002, the F.E.C., which is in charge of its enforcement, issued extensive rules to accommodate the law's provisions, including a blanket exemption for all Internet activity. But a federal judge ruled last year that many of the F.E.C. rules were too lax and specifically asked it to address the question of Internet activity.
Although the F.E.C. appealed several elements of the judge's ruling, the Internet provision was not among them, which means it must now address it.
"I don't know how we get out of it at this point," said David M. Mason, a Republican commissioner. "We have a ruling ordering us to go back and define a rule."
The six-member commission is divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans; their vote not to appeal the part of the judge's ruling dealing with Internet activity broke along party lines, with Democrats voting not to appeal.
Commissioners said they could consider several questions, including whether political Web sites are technically coordinating with official campaigns by posting links to a candidate's Web site, and whether partisan bloggers are making in-kind contributions by donating their expertise and computer equipment to a campaign.
By law, contributions over $1,000 or services of an equivalent value must be made public. Individuals are permitted to volunteer their time, and there is an exemption for newspapers, broadcast networks, magazines and other periodicals. It is unclear whether political news sites would meet the exemption requirements for the news media, or whether the F.E.C. would go beyond regulating simple Internet advertisements bought by the campaigns.
The Republican commissioners interviewed agreed that it would be difficult to place a value on most political activity conducted online, and thus to determine whether it fell under the campaign contribution limits. "If you have a very successful blogger who attracts a lot of attention based on the commentary he or she is undertaking, and maybe that activity is coordinated with a candidate, what is the value of that?" said Michael E. Toner, the third Republican member of the commission.
"Everyone here believes this is one of the most important rule-makings the F.E.C. is going to do this year," Mr. Toner added, "mainly because the Internet got millions of people involved in politics. What we do here is going to have a major consequence of how people are involved."
(3-6-05, The New York Times.)
Anyone who decides to "set up a blog, send out mass e-mails, any kind of activity that can be done on the Internet" could be subject to Federal Election Commission regulation, Bradley A. Smith, a Republican commissioner, said in an interview posted Thursday on the technology news site Cnet.com.
But it is unclear how much appetite the F.E.C., criticized in the past by advocates for election reform as being dysfunctional and ineffective, really has for trying to govern Internet activity.
"People should not be alarmed," said Ellen L. Weintraub, a Democratic commissioner.
"Given the impact of the Internet," Ms. Weintraub said, "I think we have to take a look at whether there are aspects of that that ought to be subject to the regulations. But again, I don't want this issue to get overblown. Because I really don't think, at the end of the day, this commission is going to do anything that affects what somebody sitting at home, on their home computer, does."
After the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law was passed in March 2002, the F.E.C., which is in charge of its enforcement, issued extensive rules to accommodate the law's provisions, including a blanket exemption for all Internet activity. But a federal judge ruled last year that many of the F.E.C. rules were too lax and specifically asked it to address the question of Internet activity.
Although the F.E.C. appealed several elements of the judge's ruling, the Internet provision was not among them, which means it must now address it.
"I don't know how we get out of it at this point," said David M. Mason, a Republican commissioner. "We have a ruling ordering us to go back and define a rule."
The six-member commission is divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans; their vote not to appeal the part of the judge's ruling dealing with Internet activity broke along party lines, with Democrats voting not to appeal.
Commissioners said they could consider several questions, including whether political Web sites are technically coordinating with official campaigns by posting links to a candidate's Web site, and whether partisan bloggers are making in-kind contributions by donating their expertise and computer equipment to a campaign.
By law, contributions over $1,000 or services of an equivalent value must be made public. Individuals are permitted to volunteer their time, and there is an exemption for newspapers, broadcast networks, magazines and other periodicals. It is unclear whether political news sites would meet the exemption requirements for the news media, or whether the F.E.C. would go beyond regulating simple Internet advertisements bought by the campaigns.
The Republican commissioners interviewed agreed that it would be difficult to place a value on most political activity conducted online, and thus to determine whether it fell under the campaign contribution limits. "If you have a very successful blogger who attracts a lot of attention based on the commentary he or she is undertaking, and maybe that activity is coordinated with a candidate, what is the value of that?" said Michael E. Toner, the third Republican member of the commission.
"Everyone here believes this is one of the most important rule-makings the F.E.C. is going to do this year," Mr. Toner added, "mainly because the Internet got millions of people involved in politics. What we do here is going to have a major consequence of how people are involved."
(3-6-05, The New York Times.)
posted by Sid Cottingham | 1:36 PM
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