Blog regulations just around the corner?

Well, sooner or later, they'll be upon us. You can take that to the bank.

Declan [McCullagh] has a piece out today for CNET that is a must-read for both bloggers and political activists: an interview with Bradley Smith, one of six members of the Federal Election Commission. It's a real eye-opener: Smith "says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over. In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list, depending on the details, could be punished by fines."

This crackdown--which will take place under the restrictive provisions of the dreadful McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that put a lot more hard money into the political process and made the presidential election of '04 the most expensive in history--would dramatically change the nature of 'net politics as it is now practiced. Ultimately, of course, the restrictions Smith talks about would undoubtedly be challenged and taken all the way to the Supreme Court (they've never gotten above a 1992 U.S. District Court up to now). Interestingly enough, its the Democrats on the FEC who've blocked an appeal to that '92 decision which would seek continuation of the internet exception to McCain-Feingold.
  Direland post