Left In Lowell

Trolling the internet (well, at least dailykos.com) I found out that a bill is up for vote tomorrow that affects this blog, and your other favorite blogs, very directly. It’s called the Online Freedom of Speech Act. It will negate the effects of a lawsuit on the FEC by pro-regulation groups that says that internet political speech is covered under McCain-Feingold. While we all agree campaign finance reform is necessary, the problem is that the FEC is getting it wrong. No one disputes that bloggers working for a campaign shouldn’t disclose that fact (most of us credible bloggers do anyway) but as Adam B says at dailykos.com:

• Here’s why: They’ve taken a narrow mandate to correct the anti-coordination gap as an excuse to propose all sorts of new restrictions on your internet activity, ranging from making group weblogs into regulated “political committees”, to potentially imposing a “blogger code of ethics” with disclosure and disclaimer requirements enforceable by law (requirements otherwise unheard of for any other independent actor who deals with political campaigns), to intruding into the workplace to tell readers how much time they can spend participating in online political discussion groups. Plus which, they have no idea how to deal with podcasting, p2p networks or any of the emerging technologies for discussion.
• This bill reenacts the FEC’s original exemption, and is intended to say, “No, Courts, this is really what Congress itself wanted. Don’t make the FEC regulate what we don’t want them to touch.” Its passage would forestall the FEC’s current process, while leaving other issues open for future consideration by Congress or the FEC if the need arises.

If you do nothing else today, call your US Congresscritter. For us it’s Meehan of course, (202) 225-3411, and call House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at (202) 225-4965. If Meehan isn’t your Rep click here to find yours.

[PS I should mention - to say you are for the Online Freedom of Speech Act, it’s a good thing.]