The FEC and Bloggers

The Online Coalition has an online petition for the FEC. Their petition “protects freedom of speech on the Internet” which would encompass our blogs for Politics and the New Media. In a nutshell the petition states:

• Bloggers should not be included in the definition of public communication. Instead, the FEC should focus on the form of communication instead of specific types (blogging, podcasting, text messaging) in order to write a rule that can not only apply today but 10 years from now.

• The FEC should reconsider its current plan to fight SPAM by requiring a disclaimer on all unsolicited emails sent to 500 or more recipients. The Coalition believes that the rule would be unenforceable against true spammers. They suggest instead that disclaimers would be put on unsolicited email expenditure of $25,000 or more.

• Bloggers paid by candidates should not have to add disclaimers to their blogs because it is not unusual for people who receive payments from the campaigns to appear and express their views on cable televisions new shows, or radio, or on the op-ed pages of newspapers and magazines. Why would blogging be the exception to this?

• The FEC still thinks of the “press” as a conventional professional media establishment, such as newspapers, magazines and periodicals, not in terms of online print. The Coalition feels it would be better served to instead exempt “news, opinion, or commentary” regardless of mode of dissemination or the press or media bona fides of the speaker from instead of simply the traditional “press.”

If you are interested, sign it here. It takes just a few seconds.

Also, the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet held a discussion panel on this matter and the full video may be viewed online. The Center for Democracy and Technology also has a nice page dedicated to the matter.

PS. what did you think of the logo on IPDI's FEC page?