Random Thoughts From Marybeth

Try and Catch the Wind

A Truth Laid Bear post got me thinking. The whole business about applying campaign finance laws to blogs makes me think that the FEC doesn't understand the Internet and how complicated it would be to enforce this.

What happens if a blogger links directly to an opposition candidate but links to a search engine or directory page that shows the link of the candidate they support? If, as I am assuming here, SEs and directories are exempt, what is it that makes them different from a blogroll or a separate page (or pages) that I could set up as a personal directory from my site to candidate's sites?

The problem with linking to a SE or directory is that it would take readers two clicks instead one. I could get around that if I link to another site or page that I've set up to redirect to a candidate's site. The redirect could be seamless enough not to annoy readers but the FEC will have to click each of my links to see where it really goes.

Do they plan on using a large number of servers to crawl the Web daily looking for violations? If so, would the bots ignore a robots.txt telling them to stay out? Or would they just have people viewing blogs or RSS feeds and pings announcing recent updates all day looking for links? Who's going to pay for this? (Okay, I know the answer to the last question.)

What happens if I use an online blogging service? How will they know who I am and if I am in the U.S.? If they shut it down, I can just begin a new one. Will blogging services have to use software that prevents these links? What if I use free hosting but my own software? Will they be able to demand that IPs of violators be banned? What if my ISP uses dynamic IPs? Will everyone who has that ISP be banned from using these services? What if I have my own domain but my site is hosted outside the U.S.? Will they be able to get my contact information from my hosting service?

This could be good news for hosting services in countries that wouldn't feel inclined to cooperate with providing information on site owners. Wouldn't that be a nice bit of irony if U.S. political blogs/sites were hosted in "less than friendly" countries?

Will I have to disable all html in my comments? Not allow a link to show for the commenters name? What if I search for abandoned blogs that allowed comments and add links there to candidate's sites? (Not that I would, I consider comment spammers among the lowest of the low...but still, you know some people would do it.)

Will I have to delete pages from my archive? Will I be responsible for telling Google (and others) not to cache pages with links to candidates to make sure they aren't availabe to anyone within 60 days before an election?

The FEC is wrong because this will restrict free speech. Any attempt to do this is also stupid because enforcement wouldn't be practical.