McCain-Feingold to apply to Internet

Remember those freedom-loving folks who decried the passage and presidential approval of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, AKA McCain-Feingold, Rep. Ron Paul among them? Well, when it was passed the FEC had determined that it didn't apply to Internet communications like email and websites, but U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly just ruled that it must. What that means, according to FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith is that just about every use of the internet that advocates a political message - emails, links on websites, even blog entries that could be meant as little more than idle conversation - may be subject to regulation by government officials and painstaking valuations to determine culpability. Do we really need to force Joe Blogger who posts an original opinion piece on www.JoeBlogger.com to calculate the percentage of his computer equipment costs, electricity, and web hosting fees contributed to his political advocacy? This is a ridiculous development, and one that needs to be shouted down by the free folk of the nation.

UPDATE: a preliminary ruling by a CA county Superior Court judge says that bloggers are not protected by the First Amendment and shield laws that protect journalists from having to divulge their sources. It's not looking good for the home team.