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Congress really should learn to read the Constitution - UpdatedBloggers should get an exemption from
McCain-Feingold.
Declan McCullagh reports that Congress is considering passing
legislation to exempt bloggers from the McCain-Feingold law.
Bloggers would be largely immunized from hundreds of pages of confusing federal regulations dealing with election laws, according to a bill approved by a House of Representatives panel on Thursday. Democrats had blocked an earlier effort last November to enact the legislation, which would amend federal campaign finance laws to give Internet publishers many of the same freedoms that newspapers and magazines currently enjoy. "We don't expect bloggers to check with a federal agency before they go online," said House Administration Committee Chairman Vernon Ehlers, a Michigan Republican, referring to the Federal Election Commission. "They shouldn't have to read FEC advisory opinions (or have) to worry about running afoul of federal election laws." The FEC is under court order to finalize rules to extend a controversial 2002 campaign finance law to the Internet. Unless Congress acts, the final regulations could cover everything from regulating hyperlinks to politicians' Web sites to forcing disclosure of affiliations with campaigns. Opponents of Internet reform have warned that the measure would invite "corrupt" activities to take place online, such as cozy relationships between bloggers and political candidates that were not disclosed. The New York Times wrote in an editorial in November that "the Internet would become a free-fire zone without any limits on spending." This new law is good as far as it goes, but the fact that so many things have to be specifically exempted from McCain-Feingold should tell Congress that McCain-Feingold is a bad law that threatens freedom. Not to mention a direct violation of the First Amendment, which is incredibly obvious to any high school student with a copy of the Constitution. 
Posted: Fri - March 10, 2006 at 04:44 AM
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 Pagan Vigil
Pagan philosopher, libertarian, and part-time trouble maker, NeoWayland watches for threats to individual freedom or personal responsiblity. There's more to life than just black and white, using only extremes just increases the problems.  My Thinking Blogger Nominees
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