See also: "Run a political web site, go to jail? FEC rules challenged..." http://www.politechbot.com/p-00685.html "More on run a political web site, go to jail" http://www.politechbot.com/p-00686.html --- http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,51217,00.html Figuring Out E-lection Reform By Declan McCullagh and Robert Zarate Print this o E-mail it o Set E-mail Alerts 2:00 a.m. March 21, 2002 PST WASHINGTON -- The Federal Election Commission met Wednesday to puzzle out how to regulate websites and hyperlinks that endorse politicians seeking federal office. During a four-hour hearing, the FEC's six commissioners expressed tentative support for a set of regulations (PDF) that would control how individuals, corporations and labor unions may use the Internet for election-related purposes. [...] In the nine-page proposal, published last October, the FEC suggested that it will be acceptable: * For individuals to use "equipment, software, Internet services or Internet domain names" to agitate for or against a candidate in a federal election. * To create hyperlinks from corporate or union websites "for no charge or for a nominal charge." The fine print, however, says that the text or images that are part of the link must follow existing regulations covering "express advocacy" of candidates. * For corporations and unions to post press releases endorsing a candidate on their websites. * Any corporation or union would be prohibited from posting "express advocacy materials such as banner advertisements for a candidate on its website." [...] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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