Questions Linger About Proposed Campaign Finance Rules on the Web
Bloggers and online political communication advocates say they're concerned about the possibility that the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) might extend campaign finance regulations to now-exempt Internet communications. Panelists at a Congressional Internet Caucus forum Thurs. said the rulemaking could affect not only extant forms of online speech, but might stifle types of communication as yet unknown. The discussion among FEC officials, bloggers and pundits followed last week’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by the FEC (WID March 25 p1).
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Because the Internet differs fundamentally from most other forms of mass communication governed by the McCain- Feingold rules, “the very theory of campaign finance law doesn’t really map well” to the Web, the Center for Democracy & Technology’s John Morris said. On TV and radio, political campaigns must spend considerably to reach large audience - a model divergent from the Internet’s structure, Morris noted. He said a failure to protect online political speech could impact future models: “We can’t imagine the forms and modes of speech that are going to be available to us in 5 or 10 years. By focusing only on blogging and perhaps putting blogging in some special reserve place, we may well be making some other form harder [and] may even discourage the development of new forms of communication.”
RedState.org blogger Mike Krempasky said the FEC is poised to repeat a 350-year-old mistake. He described how in 1665 when bubonic plague killed 1,000 Londoners, the Lord Mayor acted on rumors that the illness was caused by cats and dogs by killing hundreds of thousands of pets, only to learn that rats carried the plague and the city had wiped out their natural enemies. “If your concern is the undue influence of big money or special interests or sham ads, then frankly bloggers are your best friends,” Krempasky said: “The blogosphere is fiercely independent, it’s suspicious of authority [and] it’s suspicious of money.” He said bloggers often are the most watchdogs, shedding light on big money connections to campaigns and fact-checking candidates’ platforms and issues.
Krempasky admitted the FEC “is in a tough spot,” alluding to a court order mandating that the Commission revisit its blanket Internet exemptions. “But the real question is ‘Where do we go from here?'” Krempasky said: “I don’t think that the rules are necessarily as clear as Chmn. Thomas lays out as to who would be protected and exempted.” Despite palpable caution, its proposal still could play havoc with people who want to be politically active online and for journalists who report online. Krempasky argued that the Commission doesn’t even have a solid grasp of how politics and the Internet intertwine. At last week’s meeting, Comr. Danny McDonald boasted that “no one in this room knows less about the Internet that I do” - a statement Krempasky said gives bloggers pause, since the Commissioners might be charged with regulating them.
Some voiced anxiety over thresholds for spending under FEC rules. Pew Internet & American Life’s Mike Cornfield said the $250 threshold, which requires certain disclosures, could get stale quickly in the volatile information economy. Banner ads, sponsored links on search engines and instant message ads now bringing $249.99 could cost 10 times that next campaign season -- or a tenth of that sum, he said. For thresholds to be reasonable, they should be tied to inflation or another market factor, Cornfield said. FEC Chmn. Scott Thomas responded affirmatively to that idea, calling it something for Congress to consider. Thomas urged the public to comment on the proposed rulemaking, expected to appear in the April 4 Federal Register. A 60-day comment period will follow.