Policy Post 6.01 | CDT and Others Call for FEC to Leave Individual Political Speech on the Internet Alone

CDT POLICY POST Volume 6, Number 1 January 6, 2000

A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES AFFECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES ONLINE
from
THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTENTS:
(1) CDT and Others Call for FEC to Leave Individual Political Speech on the Internet Alone
(2) Hundreds of Netizens Voice Concerns as Well
(3) Background - What's at Stake
(4) Policy Post Administration

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(1) CDT AND OTHERS CALL FOR FEC TO LEAVE INDIVIDUAL POLITICAL SPEECH ON THE INTERNET ALONE

Organizations from across the political spectrum have submitted a joint statement to the Federal Election Commission urging it to refrain from regulating political speech of individuals on the Internet. CDT, the ACLU, People for the American Way and Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Foundation, among others, urge the FEC to:

Delay any attempt at comprehensive rulemaking until after the 2000 election cycle;
Create, through a clear statement on valuation, a "safe harbor" for Internet political speech by individuals during the 2000 election cycle; and,
Take a cautious approach to online campaign-related activities during the 2000 election cycle by entities such as corporations, labor unions, educational entities, and non-profit entities, other than candidates, political parties, and PACs, acting narrowly in response to advisory opinion requests and complaints and to redress clear violations of existing law.

The comments are available on CDT's Web site at http://www.cdt.org/speech/political/000106fec.shtml.

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(2) HUNDREDS OF NETIZENS VOICE CONCERNS AS WELL

Internet activists have also taken an active role by submitting comments to the FEC in this process.

So far over 800 comments from over 200 citizens have been sent to the FEC through CDT's action page - http://www.cdt.org/action/ - an online resource designed to make it easier for Web users to voice their opinions on whether campaign-related activities on the Internet should be regulated.

Almost all of the comments expressed concern over any FEC regulation of the political speech of individuals on the Internet. CDT will be releasing some of these concerned citizens' comments soon.

The comment period was extended through Friday, January 7, 2000 .

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(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.

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(4) POLICY POST ADMINISTRATION

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