Unregulated Online Political Speech
Red State has a story about the recently proposed legislation to block the FEC from regulating online political speech. Their article entitled, Online Freedom of Speech Act Introduced in House contains the text of Congressman Jeb Hensarling’s letter to his colleagues. Here is the letter:
“Dear Colleague:
When Congress passed campaign finance reform in 2002, the legislation did not identify the Internet as a target of regulation, and rightly so. The explosion of new technology has done much to democratize our politics, encourage grassroots political involvement, and act as a tremendous catalyst for civic engagement across our country. With the emergence of blogs, the Internet truly puts the power in the hands of the people.
Unfortunately, a federal judge has ruled that the FEC’s previous broad exemption of the Internet was impermissible absent clear direction from Congress. Within the next sixty days, the FEC is expected to finalize rules and regulations that could squash not only free speech and citizen activism, but could well impede innovation and technology, unless Congress acts now.
Today, I introduced the Online Freedom of Speech Act to offer that direction, amending federal election law to specifically exclude communications over the Internet from the definition of “public communication” for purposes of regulation. It will allow the growth and expansion of new voices in our political process without interference. An identical bill (S.678) has been introduced in the Senate by the distinguished Minority Leader signifying that this effort is not a partisan one.
We ought to embrace these newcomers to our political process instead of applying complex and chilling regulatory burdens. Please cosponsor this important legislation and help me protect bloggers and online activists from the heavy hand of federal regulation. For more information, please call Gerry O’Shea on my staff at 5-3484.
Congressman Jeb Hensarling
5th District, Texas”
The rest of the article is Krempasky’s support and comments, along with the resolution text.
Please support this effort by calling or e-mailing your Congressmen and Senators today. The Congressional switchboard is 202-225-3121. This is the location for Senate E-Mail and this is for the House of Representatives. Tell them you support the “Online Freedom of Speech Act”.
July 16th, 2005 at 5:02 pm
[…] We have written here and here concerning the effect of this law and it’s ramifications for bloggers. Blogs like the one you are currently reading may eventually be shut down by FEC regulators or face fines and imprisonment. These regulations are only the tip of the iceberg in the BCRA of 2002. […]