The Coming Online Political Speech Crackdown

from the bye-bye-political-blogs dept

It looks like the case from last fall that said the internet had to be regulated by McCain-Feingold is starting to get much more attention. A few weeks ago we highlighted an article noting that this would make it difficult to support a politician online. Even linking to your favorite candidate's website might become illegal. News.com is now running an interview with one of the commissioners at the Federal Election Commission talking about how a link to a politician's website may now be counted as a "contribution." He admits that it's going to be a big problem -- but that, thanks to partisan fighting, the FEC can't get enough votes to appeal the ruling. Of course, the one good thing about all of this is that it may highlight some of the absurdities of McCain-Feingold as a restriction on free speech.

Add Your Comment

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here
Name
Email	Get Techdirt’s Daily Email
URL
Subject
Comment	this is for spambots, do not use this
Options	Plain Text HTML Save me a cookie

Plain Text: A CRLF will be replaced by break tag, all other allowable HTML is intact
HTML: No formatting of any kind is done without explicitly being written in
Allowed HTML Tags: <a> <blockquote> <hr> <tt>

<< Why Do Media Sites Still Use Pop-Ups? | Broadband Providers Are Happy About Monopolies When They're The Monopoly >>

Search Techdirt

And now, a word from our Sponsors..

15% off discount for Techdirt Readers

Subscribe to Techdirt's Daily Email Newsletter