"FEC Won't Regulate Internet Politics". This statement reverberates throughout the internet today. Although in many circles, it will get nary a glance, among bloggers, however, this is an important and significant development. You and I will likely never encounter the likes of FEC enforcement but imagine answering the door and having two federal agents standing there with warrants to seize your laptop. It is at least a little disconcerting. The door remains open to an infinite variety of attacks on free-speech, such as fallacious accusations of libel/slander but those can be avoided by qualifying what you say as opinion and not getting into specific allegations or accusations represented as fact, etc.
Why is this significant? This allows people like you and I to blog about candidates for political office, independent of the majority of constraints without fear of federal prosecution. The local implications are obvious as well. Would a State be willing to bring enforcement action against little ol' me if the FEC has already come out in support of allowing this type of communication? This will likely have implications for States with more restrictive rules as well. The best part is Free Speech has survived another attempted assault.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment