CDT POLICY POST Volume 5, Number 28 December 13, 1999 A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES ONLINE from THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY CONTENTS: (1) Federal Regulators Review Campaign Finance Rules for the Internet (2) CDT Launches Web Resource for Netizen Comments (3) Background - What's at Stake (4) Policy Post Administration _______________________________________________________________________ (1) FEDERAL REGULATORS REVIEW CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULES FOR THE INTERNET Federal regulators are asking for public input on how they should apply to the open and inexpensive world of the Internet restrictions designed to regulate political speech in the expensive, centralized world of radio and TV. The Federal Election Campaign Act is a complicated law regulating contributions to, expenditures by and public statements expressing support for candidates for federal office. It places limits on how much money can be spent by individuals. It requires reporting of certain contributions (including "in-kind" contributions of goods and services), and it mandates labeling of political statements. As both politicians and voters turn to the Internet, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has begun applying these rules to campaign-related speech on the Internet -- with troubling results. In its initial rulings, the FEC failed to take into account the unique, user-controlled nature of the Internet. It issued a series of opinions that threatened to burden - even silence - the voice of average citizens taking advantage of the power of the Internet to state their political views. The FEC is now reexamining its position. It has issued a "Notice of Inquiry," asking for public comment on the extent to which it should regulate campaign-related speech on the Internet. The FEC's "Notice of Inquiry" is at http://www.cdt.org/speech/political/noi9924.html _______________________________________________________________________ (2) CDT LAUNCHES WEB RESOURCE FOR NETIZEN COMMENTS CDT has created a new online resource to make it easier for Web users to voice their opinions on whether campaign-related activities on the Internet should be regulated. The Federal Election Commission has posed a series of very detailed questions. CDT has broken down those questions into nine categories and created a Web-based form where you can type in your comments on any and all of the issues and send them to the FEC with a single click. This is a crucial opportunity for Netizens to influence a Washington policy debate. The site should be of interest to anyone who wants to voice a political opinion on the Internet, run a politically-oriented email list, or develop a Web site criticizing, parodying or supporting a politician. Act now! The deadline for public comments is January 4. CDT's resource for filing your comments with the FEC is at http://www.cdt.org/action/ ________________________________________________________________________ (3) BACKGROUND - WHAT'S AT STAKE The rapidly growing use of the Internet by ordinary citizens to express political opinions and participate in electoral activities - one of the medium's most promising aspects - is on a collision course with federal campaign finance law. The federal campaign finance law, originally adopted in 1971, was aimed at decreasing the influence of money on elections. Campaign finance reformers were concerned with the corrupting influence of money, the domination of TV, and the resulting drop in the quality of electoral debate. They wanted to limit the amount of money spent and require disclosure of the sponsorship of advertisements. The resulting law was designed for the centralized, scarce, expensive and gatekeeper-dominated media of radio, television and print. In contrast, the Internet is uniquely decentralized, abundant, inexpensive, interactive and user-controlled. The Internet supports a diversity and abundance of speech not possible in other media - much of it spontaneous and independent from campaign committees and the political parties. However, initial efforts by the Federal Election Commission to apply the campaign finance law to Internet communications have imposed burdens ill-suited to the new medium. For example, the FEC has ruled that a hyperlink to a candidate's Web site might be a regulated contribution and that someone using a personal homepage to express support for a candidate might have to file disclosure statements. More recently, the FEC has given greater leeway to the political parties to use the Internet, but it has left the ordinary citizen in limbo. In October, CDT issued a report warning of the risks this approach posed to free expression and democratic values. Entitled "Square Pegs and Round Holes: Applying the Campaign Finance Law to the Internet," the report is online at http://www.cdt.org/speech/political/financereport.shtml _______________________________________________________________________ (4) POLICY POST ADMINISTRATION To subscribe to CDT's Policy Post list, send mail to majordomo@cdt.org In the BODY of the message type "subscribe policy-posts" without the quotes. To unsubscribe from CDT's Policy Post list, send mail to majordomo@cdt.org In the BODY of the message type "unsubscribe policy-posts" without the quotes. Detailed information about online civil liberties issues may be found at http://www.cdt.org/ This document may be redistributed freely in full or linked to http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_5.28.shtml. Excerpts may be re-posted with prior permission of ari@cdt.org Policy Post 5.28 Copyright 1999 Center for Democracy and Technology