FEC briefing update...briefly
By krempasky Posted in FEC — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Yesterday, the Institute on Politics, Democracy, and the Internet and the Center for Democracy and Technology held a joint briefing on the FEC rulemaking process and the internet yesterday. I'm going to wait till the video is available online and we can get some transcribed remarks before commenting more extensively - but I think something very interesting took place.
First - after being accused of hysteria by a prominent "reformer", the panel went right ahead and proved just about every point I've been making for months now - if some of the brightest and most capable minds in election law can't agree on how the proposed rules will really affect small speakers, why on earth should we just wait patiently and trust the regulators to protect our freedoms?
Further, when you present several sets of facts illustrating what bloggers really do right now (soliciting money, coming together to collaborate, etc) and the former head of the enforcement division at the FEC agrees in every single case that under the rules as currently proposed by the FEC those situations would at the VERY LEAST trigger an investigation by the Commission - well...pardon me if I don't just roll over and say, "Thank you sir, may I have another?" Get ready for your subpeonas, my friends.
Finally, if there are regulations to be had, CDT and IPDI have released a set of principles to inform such regs that bloggers ought to support. They've launched a new website at fec.cdt.org and they're looking for blogger input.
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FEC briefing update...briefly 4 Comments (0 topical, 4 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
... about this is that bloggers (quite understandably) are trying to protect themselves as regulators decide the amount and character of speech to be allowed. We might as well be German Jews arguing that our cattle cars should have fresh straw.
Maybe the analogy's overwrought, but do you see the point? We've surrendered, through the people we elected to Congress, the White House and by extension the courts, the most important political freedom spelled out in the Bill of Rights. Bureaucrats now tell us what we can say, when we can say it, who we can say it with.
I salute you for biting into this and not letting go. But the issue is so much bigger than bloggers, so much more important than just digital speech. My guess is that the final regulations will in some way regulate our speech. If that indeed turns out to be the case, count me in on the class action lawsuit.
Many scary things were said and contemplated yesterday; I'll have my own diary up on Kos when I have time.
There are two things that every reader of this site has to understand right now: