A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties Online from The Center For Democracy and Technology
1. CDT Calls on Congress to Block Effort to Regulate Individuals' Online Political Speech
2. Federal Elections Commission Rulemaking Threatens Individuals' Free Speech Online
3. CDT Collaborates with IPDI to Prepare Principles to Guide Congress and the FEC
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is considering new rules that would apply complicated federal campaign finance laws to Internet political advocacy. There is a growing concern -- on the Internet and in Congress -- about the possible impact of those rules on independent political speech by small and individual speakers. CDT is calling on Congress to impose an immediate moratorium on the FEC rulemaking. Such a moratorium would allow Congress time to act to ensure that individual online speakers are not covered by the campaign finance laws.
As the last election showed, the Internet is a powerful forum for democratic discourse. The Internet has made it possible for millions of ordinary Americans to have a real voice in electoral politics and to have access to an extraordinary array of news and opinion, delivered by bloggers and alternative media sources. The Internet furthers the prime goal of the campaign finance laws, which is to reduce the corrupting influence of big money on the election process. It is critical that Congress ensure that the Internet remains free from burdensome regulation.
CDT urges citizens to call their Senators and Representative in Congress and urge them to impose a moratorium on the FEC rulemaking. For more information about who to call, go to http://www.cdt.org/action/fec/.
Since the 1970s, the Federal Campaign Finance Act has regulated expenditures and contributions in elections to ensure that elections are fair and open and free from the corrupting influences of big money. Under the law, people who spend money to engage in election-related speech that specifically endorses or opposes a federal candidate are subject to various disclosure and reporting requirements. People who join together and spend money to engage in broader election-related political advocacy or raise money for candidates may also have reporting and disclosure obligations. And people who spend money and coordinate their political activity with a candidate may have to treat their expenditures as a campaign contribution. In 2002, Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act ("BCRA") to strengthen these laws.
In 2002, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) decided to exempt most Internet speech from the requirements of the BCRA statute. In 2004, however, a court overturned that broad exemption. Now the FEC is back considering what campaign finance rules should apply to speech on the Internet.
While the FEC proposal is intended to be limited, it will have a harmful impact on the Internet political speech of ordinary people. And it will leave the door open for additional regulation later on. The rules threaten to reach millions of independent political speakers who are blogging, launching websites or using email and other technologies to discuss political issues, raise money for candidates, or advocate for the election or defeat of a particular candidate.
CDT believes that the Internet is a powerful engine for democratic discourse and an antidote to the domination of big money in politics:
For these reasons, we believe that neither Congress nor the FEC should include the Internet in broad campaign finance rules. We are not saying that campaign finance rules can never apply to the Internet, but there should be regulation only if there is a compelling record of abuses. Even then, rules should only apply to the big money interests that the law was intended to reach. Ordinary speakers should not have to hire a lawyer to navigate campaign finance laws on the Internet and should not be chilled from speaking because of burdensome and complex regulations. That is why it is important for Congress to take action to stop the FEC's rulemaking while Congress develops appropriate rules to protect individuals' online political speech.
For more information, see http://www.cdt.org/speech/political/. See also:
CDT will be working with the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet ("IPDI") of George Washington University to address the issued raised by the FEC's proposed regulation of individuals' political speech on the Internet. Together, CDT and IPDI will:
If you would like to receive additional information about this collaborative effort and consider joining onto the "Principles" to the submitted to the FEC, sign up at our Action page, http://www.cdt.org/action/fec/. We will inform you of breaking developments.