FEC having problems drafting Internet regulations
But not this week. It turns out that the FEC is having a tough time agreeing on court-ordered regulations (PDF here) that could, just maybe, include a crackdown on bloggers and other sundry political Web sites.
In fact, the topic become so internally divisive that the general counsel's office was still working on the document as of late Tuesday. Nothing is ready to be released to the public, the FEC says, even though the meeting is Thursday morning.
Among the not-easy-to-answer-questions the FEC general counsel's office will have to address: Do bloggers qualify as journalists? Must Web publishers disclose any relationship with campaigns? Does posting a campaign's press release qualify as a donation? How about a favorable link?
There is some reason for bloggers to cheer: I'm being told me that the result will be less regulatory than if FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith hadn't blown the whistle here earlier this month. In other words, the Internet outcry may have worked. We'll know more soon.
Declan McCullagh, CNET News' chief political correspondent, chronicles the intersection of politics and technology. He has covered politics, technology, and Washington, D.C., for more than a decade, which has turned him into an iconoclast and a skeptic of anyone who says, "We oughta have a new federal law against this." E-mail Declan.
