The coming crackdown on blogging

CNet ^ | March 3, 2005 | Declan McCullagh

[CSM]

They better be very careful. All volunteers that work in local campaign offices could be considered donating something of value, and end up being fined. CFR needs to go!

[Bahbah]

Here we go.

[tx_eggman]

we're running a real possibility of serious Internet regulation

Sounds like it's time to invest in offshore ISP's ... if this goes through, they're going to see a spike in business.

[Darksheare]

CNN tired of having their bias called into question.
So they're hoping this will muzzle 'those insignificant bloggers.'
I.E. us.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I wonder what the FEC thinks this means?

[Vaquero]

yup 1st Friggin Amendment bubba.

[RadioAstronomer]

This is not good. :-(

BTTT for later read.

[Antoninus]

Riiiight. So the government thinks they can control political internet speech, but when it comes to the unsolicited porn/Viagra/weightloss/viruses that show up in my email inbox, there's absolutely nothing they can do?

What, are we living in China???

[dirtboy]

I wonder what the FEC thinks this means?

Like any other federal entity nowadays, IMO to them it means whatever they want it to mean.

[rface]

I cannot believe that this is going to happen this way --- Sorros and MoveOn and the Deaniacs will also fight this....

also this movement to redefine what "The Press" is is going to cause a lot of problems

[numberonepal]

Bumparoo

[clee1]

That's the whole reason this is not going anywhere.

A web page can be hosted from anywhere; including those placed beyond the jurisdiction of the FEC - or the whole Federal Government for that matter.

Personally, they can bring it on. It won't take too much more to fire off CWII.

[TheForceOfOne]

Fine, we'll all have to register as journalists then and use the freedom of the press and the 1st Amendment to thwart them.

[sure_fine]

it's a money matter

[Pietro]

everything about CFR is just incumbent protection. It's a travesty. The SC approval is just another indictment of how corrupted that body has become.

[RadioAstronomer]

Control of what you post, what types of web sites you can visit, types of speech, etc. have always been a target with the Internet.

I fear in the not to distant future, the freedoms we enjoy currently on the Internet may be greatly curtailed.

[JustAnAmerican]

The blame should be placed on one person and one person only, President Bush.

[GaltMeister]

I remember Hillary talking about the need for a 'government gatekeeper' function for the Internet - IOW, your website would have to be submitted for gummint bureaucratic approval before you could post it. Scary the way these people think, isn't it?

Your papers please .....

[Gabz]

This is utterly ridiculous.