Political bloggers under threat
p2pnet.net News:- US Senate Democrats say they want to curb corruption in Washington, but the “obtuse” bill they’re proposing could instead target some political bloggers with new regulations and even criminal penalties, says CNET News.
“The legislation, which began as an attempt to rewrite federal lobbying laws in the aftermath of the Jack Abramoff scandal, has ballooned to more than 9,000 words and a thicket of complicated rules,” says the story. “It was the subject of a failed attempt by Senate Democrats on Wednesday to defeat a Republican filibuster over a line-item veto, and debate is continuing Thursday afternoon.”
Political bloggers who encourage readers to contact elected representatives would have to register as lobbyists, or face up to 10 years in prison.
A, “broad range of groups including the ACLU, the Free Speech Coalition, the Traditional Values Coalition and National Right To Life said it would hurt their own groups’ abilities to influence Congress and place unreasonable restrictions on Internet politicking,” says CNET, going on that ‘grassroots’ lobbying firms would have to register with the government or face civil and criminal penalties.
Grassroots lobbying is defined as, “a person engaging in ‘paid efforts’ to encourage the ‘general public to communicate their own views on an issue to federal officials’,” says the story. “That person must also spend or receive at least $25,000 related to his or her political efforts over any three-month period.”
Also See:
CNET News – Lobbying backlash could hit bloggers, January 18, 2007
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January 19th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Another case for calling for an end to lobbying.
January 20th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Return the U.S. to a constitutional republic, visit
http://www.fija.org
and
http://www.constitutionparty.org
to find out how.
January 20th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I left the party site after I read a few of your platforms such as gun control and copyright.