Left In Lowell

Well, well, our clueless Representative is at it again. Having helped defeat HR 1606 (the Online Freedom of Speech Act), he and the equally-clueless Shays have introduced HR 4194. Kos explains why this is moronic (bold mine):

Why do I keep calling the reformers, Shays and Meehan out of touch? This alternate bill shows it. Not only does their legislation endanger group blogs (Bye bye Booman Tribune, TPM Cafe, and so on), but their notion that political discussions on the internet are somehow limited to the blogosphere is laughable.

That’s how clueless these people are — they don’t realize that the internet is bigger than the blogs.
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I’d be willing to bet my left foot that people like Meehan and his “reformer” friends don’t even know what a “wiki” is. Or IRC. Or the difference between a message board and a Yahoo Group.

Only HR 1606 (penned by Harry Reid, remember) protects ALL internet communications, both present and future. Only HR 1606 protects group blogs. Only HR 1606 protects Daily Kos and Talking Points Memo and every other incorporated blogger (a number that is growing rapidly).

We got an early look at the friends of the medium with that first vote on HR 1606. I’ve since talked to several congresspersons and staff that said they would’ve voted for 1606 if they had heard both sides of the story. In short, they only heard one side of the story, and that was the dishonest portrayal given by the reformer groups and Meehan. Next time, we’ll be better organized on Capitol Hill.

So there will be several opportunities for our ranks of friends to grow. A vote against HR 4194 will be the next test.

Once you’ve gotten out to vote, call Meehan and tell him how clueless about the internet he is. Sites like dailykos.com (and all your other favorite group blogs, wikies, and email groups) are in jeopardy. This blog site is in jeopardy - after all, I have guest bloggers, take donations and am considering allowing ads on the site to help offset the cost of hosting and the time I spend writing here - I could easily start making more than $1000 per year eventually. If you want to save political internet communities, take action NOW.

Meehan is our Rep. He’s our responsibility. Go read Kos’s post, then call Meehan at (202) 225-3411 and tell him to learn a little more about the internet before assuming to regulate it properly. No one says we refused to be regulated - laws which force disclosure, for instance, would be redundant for a lot of us as we do it normally anyway - we’d be happy to see regulation. However, what Meehan and Shays propose is tighter regs than are put on the rest of the media - TV, newspapers, and radio. We should at least get the same protections the rest of the communications industry is receiving.