Could American Blogs Become Samizdat?

Democracy Project ^ | 3/3/05 | Winfield Myers

[no_apathy]

Glenn Reynolds links to this interview with Federal Election Commission member Bradley Smith. Smith is one of six commissioners at the FEC, and one of three Republicans. He says that a recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly may pave the way for significant federal regulation of the Internet, including blogs. Indeed, the title of the piece is "The coming crackdown on blogging." The possibilities that Smith lays out are chilling and, if enacted, could spell the end of blogging as we know it. Indeed, it could turn much of what is published on the Net into a samizdat-style activity.

Sound alarmist? Read on. It all stems, of course, from McCain-Feingold, the absurd and (pace the Supreme Court) unconstitutional curtailment of political speech in violation of the First Amendment. Both Senators, and the Democratic members of the Commission, favor regulating political speech on the Internet, lest bloggers and electronic publications enjoy an advantage over print publications. This is a huge power grab by elements of the federal bureaucracy who are threatened by New Media, and a first step by those forces to shut down political speech they don't like.

Below are excerpts from the interview,

[no_apathy]

Very disturbing happening... the war on the Blogosphere continues.

The Bloggers are advocating we write to senators and Representatives.

[martin_fierro]

Same as dat what?

[Ahban]

"Those who make peaceful protest impossible make violent protest inevitable"- JFK

[Jeff Chandler]

They couldn't stop the bloggers if they tried.