FEC May Regulate Online Political Activity

jgarzik writes "A recent federal court ruling ordered the U.S. Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to rewrite rules that currently exempt, rather than regulate, political ads and speech on the Internet. Well, it's looking more and more likely that the FEC will not be able to avoid some amount of Internet regulation. I always thought that freedom of speech originated in part because the framers wanted to protect political speech. I guess I was being naive..."

Comments

'Bout time

[dupper]

I demand equal time in flamewars! No "keRry SI teH SUxx0rS omgROfLmaolololoOLOL!!!21!1@11!" should ever go unanswered!

Does this mean that Politicians....

[BigBuckHunter]

Won't be able to lie anymore on the internet?

Let me just say,...

[nharmon]

politics stink.

* In order to conform to future FEC regulations on online political speech: I'm nharmon, and I approve this message.

Re:The Internet is too big

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, but I didn't realize that there was political speech on the porn sites.

Story time!

[Anonymous Coward]

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was
lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a
boat below. She shouted to him, "Excuse me, can you
help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour
ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied,
"You're in a hot air balloon approximately 30 feet
above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level.
You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude
and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude."

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a
Democrat."

"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything
you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea
what to do with your information, and I'm still lost.
Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a
Republican."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you
know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where
you are or where you're going. You've risen to where
you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a
promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you
expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the
same position you were in before we met but, somehow,
now it's my fault."

Re:Story time!

[Guppy06]

"She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below."

"You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude."

And none of them thought it was peculiar that the man was in a boat in the middle of the Texas desert, thust demonstrating the complete ineptitude of both parties.

Re:Slashdot does it again!

[Anonymous Coward]

This has entirly to do with campaign finance, and whether Internet ads are included (or excluded) from campaign finance. It has nothing to do with free speech.

That's right! The First Amendment is about freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

If the founding fathers really wanted it to apply to TV and the intarnet, they would've said so!

Re:Here we go again

[Lord Apathy]

God, when I get on my high horse my spelling goes to shit. Sorry about that.

What about fringe candidates - i.e. HULK for Pres!

[xmas2003]

Guess I'll have to check the Web Server Logs to see if anyone surfs to the Hulk for President Site from fcc.gov or usdoj.gov ...

Re:Internet ads should be treated like TV and prin

[ChaosDiscord]

Why should I not be allowed to say, "I'm going to kill you at 5PM tomorrow"? Why? because it's not protected speech.

I, for one, am all for that being protected speech. I certainly hope anyone planning on killing, injuring, or otherwise harming is polite enough to give me 24 hours notice. Ideally they'll say it in a recording I can provide to police. It's the criminals who commit crimes without announcing it in advance that worry me a bit more.