Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Proposed Federal Election Commission Rules for Internet Communications:
[1]The Democracy Project has read a draft version, and likes them;
among other things, it praises this section:
No expenditure results where an individual, acting independently or
as a volunteer, without receiving compensation, performs Internet
activities using computer equipment and services that he or she
personally owns for the purpose of influencing any Federal
election, whether or not the individual�s activities are known to
or coordinated with any candidate, authorized committee or party
committee.
Now it's hard to tell for sure without reading the full proposal, but
doesn't this seem quite narrow? I'm typing this on a UCLA computer
right now; I don't personally own it. (I think UCLA doesn't object to
academics using their office computers for drafting election-related
materials, but let's set that aside for now; I'm sure that many
universities permit such activity.) The material is being posted on a
PowerBlogs host, which I also don't personally own. If the Conspiracy
were organized as a corporation -- as are most newspapers and
magazines -- that owned the computers and let the bloggers use them,
then I wouldn't be using a computer that I personally own, either.
Likewise if I were to blog from an Internet cafe, or from a friend's
house, or from an office at a school at which I'm visiting.
I hope the FEC doesn't really mean to limit the rule to people who do
their own hosting, and who compose everything solely on computers that
they themselves own. And perhaps in context the final proposed rule
will make that clear. But as written, this particular paragraph offers
little cause for rejoicing.
References
1. http://www.democracy-project.com/archives/001396.html
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