FEC- RULES AND EXPLANATION AND JUSTIFICATION FOR INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS

Divide into sections by those who are interested in fighting to protect our freedom of speech. Attn; Jim Robinson.

Al Goron will be pleased to see his invention reach this point. /sarc

You will want to read this. Kristinn called and ask for me to post this.

Thanks for posting this.

The Federal Election Commission is amending its rules to include paid advertisements on the Internet in the definition of “public communication.” These final rules implement the recent decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Shays v. Federal Election Commission, which held that the previous definition of “public communication” impermissibly excluded all Internet communications. The revised definition of “public communication” includes paid Internet advertising placed on another person’s website, but does not encompass any other form of Internet communication.

Sounds good to me.

"Final" except the document says "draft" on all of the pages. ;-)

Page 87 - Section 100.26 ... the term general public political advertising shall not include communications over the internet, except for communications placed for a fee on another person's website.

This non-redirected link can be right-clicked and saved locally:

http://www.fec.gov/agenda/2006/mtgdoc06-20.pdf

It strikes me as a VERY FAVORABLE rulemaking.

Part of the file, translated to HTML ...

     Draft

 1   For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Federal Election Commission amends

 2   Subchapter A of Chapter 1 of Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations as follows:

 3   PART 100  SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS (2 U.S.C. 431)

 4      1. The authority citation for part 100 continues to read as follows:

 5   Authority: 2 U.S.C. 431, 434, and 438(a)(8).

 6      2. Section 100.25 continues to reads as follows:

 7   § 100.25 Generic campaign activity (2 U.S.C. 431(21)).

 8      Generic campaign activity means a public communication that promotes or opposes a

 9   political party and does not promote or oppose a clearly identified Federal candidate or a

10   non-Federal candidate.

11      3. Section 100.26 is revised to read as follows:

12   § 100.26 Public communication (2 U.S.C. 431(22)).

13      Public communication means a communication by means of any broadcast, cable, or

14   satellite communication, newspaper, magazine, outdoor advertising facility, mass mailing

15   or telephone bank to the general public, or any other form of general public political

16   advertising. The term general public political advertising shall not include

17   communications over the Internet, except for communications placed for a fee on another

18   person's website.

19      4. The introductory text of section 100.73 is revised to read as follows:

20   § 100.73 News story, commentary, or editorial by the media.

21           Any cost incurred in covering or carrying a news story, commentary, or editorial

22   by any broadcasting station (including a cable television operator, programmer or

23   producer), website, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, including any




                                                 86
     Draft


 1   Internet or electronic publication, is not a contribution unless the facility is owned or

 2   controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate, in which case the

 3   costs for a news story:

 4   *       *       *         *    *

 5       5. Section 100.94 is added to read as follows:

6    § 100.94 Uncompensated Internet activity by individuals that is not a contribution.

 7   (a) When an individual or a group of individuals, acting independently or in coordination

 8   with any candidate, authorized committee, or political party committee, engages in

 9   Internet activities for the purpose of influencing a Federal election, neither of the

10   following is a contribution by that individual or group of individuals:

11           (1)     the individual's uncompensated personal services related to such Internet

12                   activities;

13           (2)     the individual's use of equipment or services for uncompensated Internet

14                   activities, regardless of who owns the equipment and services.

15   (b) Internet activities. For the purposes of this section, the term Internet activities

16   includes, but is not limited to: sending or forwarding electronic messages; providing a

17   hyperlink or other direct access to another person's website; blogging; creating

18   maintaining or hosting a website; paying a nominal fee for the use of another person's

19   website; and other forms of communication distributed over the Internet.

20   (c) Equipment and services. "Equipment and services" within the meaning of this

21   section shall include, but are not limited to: computers, software, Internet domain names,

22   Internet Service Provider (ISP), and any other technology that is used to provide access to

23   or use of the Internet.




                                                   87
     Draft


 1   (d) Paragraph (a) of this section also applies to any corporation that is wholly owned by

 2   one or more individuals, that engages primarily in Internet activities, and that does not

 3   derive a substantial portion of its revenues from sources other than income from its

4    Internet activities.

5    (e) This section does not exempt from the definition of contribution:

 6           (1)     any payment for a public communication (as defined in 11 CFR 100.26)

 7                   other than a nominal fee; or

 8           (2)     any payment for the purchase or rental of an e-mail address list made at

 9                   the direction of a political committee; or

10           (3)     any payment for an e-mail address list that is transferred to a political

11                   committee.

12       6. The introductory text of section 100.132 is revised to read as follows:

13   § 100.132 News story, commentary, or editorial by the media.

14           Any cost incurred in covering or carrying a news story, commentary, or editorial

15   by any broadcasting station (including a cable television operator, programmer or

16   producer), website, newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication, including any

17   Internet or electronic publication, is not an expenditure unless the facility is owned or

18   controlled by any political party, political committee, or candidate, in which case the cost

19   for a news story:

20   *       *       *      *       *

21       7. Section 100.155 is added to read as follows:

22   § 100.155 Uncompensated Internet activity by individuals that is not an expenditure.




                                                    88
     Draft


 1   (a) When an individual or a group of individuals, acting independently or in coordination

 2   with any candidate, authorized committee, or political party committee, engages in

 3   Internet activities for the purpose of influencing a Federal election, neither of the

 4   following is an expenditure by that individual or group of individuals:

 5           (1)     the individual's uncompensated personal services related to such Internet

 6                   activities;

 7           (2)     the individual's use of equipment or services for uncompensated Internet

 8                   activities, regardless of who owns the equipment and services.

 9   (b) Internet activities. For the purposes of this section, the term Internet activities

10   includes, but is not limited to: sending or forwarding electronic messages; providing a

11   hyperlink or other direct access to another person's website; blogging; creating

12   maintaining or hosting a website; paying a nominal fee for the use of another person's

13   website; and other forms of communication distributed over the Internet.

14   (c) Equipment and services. "Equipment and services" within the meaning of this

15   section shall include, but are not limited to: computers, software, Internet domain names,

16   Internet Service Provider (ISP), and any other technology that is used to provide access to

17   or use of the Internet.

18   (d) Paragraph (a) of this section also applies to any corporation that is wholly owned by

19   one or more individuals, that engages primarily in Internet activities, and that does not

20   derive a substantial portion of its revenues from sources other than income from its

21   Internet activities.

22   (e) This section does not exempt from the definition of expenditure:




                                                   89
     Draft


 1           (1)    any payment for a public communication (as defined in 11 CFR 100.26)

 2                  other than a nominal fee; or

 3           (2)    any payment for the purchase or rental of an e-mail address list made at

 4                  the direction of a political committee; or

 5           (3)    any payment for an e-mail address list that is transferred to a political

 6                  committee.

Saving and reading.

Marking place.

Is McCain, "deeply saddened"?

I suspect McCain is deeply saddened.

The rulemaking makes it clear (see for example, page 20 line 3) that the new rule is intended to separate and regulate paid advertisement on the internet but exclude and leave unregulated other speech, like what we do here.

Bump!

Think we made a dent?

Do you have a pinglist for all things lawyerly?

so what does that mean? does that mean the candidate X, or some PAC group, cannot place a web ad anywhere on the internet - 30 days before an election?

bump!

bookmarked and holding my breath waiting for good news

I have no idea. It kinda sounds to me like the FEC is trying to limit Shays as tightly as possible. I'll wait for the arrive of other lawyer-types to shed further light on it, as I've only skimmed it.

It strikes me as the best we could hope to hear, short of abandoning MF all together. The devil is in the details.