CNET reporter Declan McCullagh has an important piece warning of the “coming crackdown on blogging.”

Joshua Claybourn of In the Agora analyzes the campaign finance law absurdities and First Amendment infringements on bloggers here.

Winfield Myers is on the same wavelength. He writes:

The possibilities that [FEC commissioner Bradley] Smith lays out are chilling and, if enacted, could spell the end of blogging as we know it. Indeed, it could turn much of what is published on the Net into a samizdat-style activity.

Sound alarmist? Read on. It all stems, of course, from McCain-Feingold, the absurd and (pace the Supreme Court) unconstitutional curtailment of political speech in violation of the First Amendment. Both Senators, and the Democratic members of the Commission, favor regulating political speech on the Internet, lest bloggers and electronic publications enjoy an advantage over print publications. This is a huge power grab by elements of the federal bureaucracy who are threatened by New Media, and a first step by those forces to shut down political speech they don’t like.

This is something bloggers of all political stripes should unite against. Instapundit has more links.

I think McCullagh and FEC commissioner Brad Smith have done a real service sounding the alarm as the panel moves forward on extending McCain-Feingold to the Internet. Here’s the last paragraph from the CNET interview, but make sure to read it in its entirety:

Smith: This is an incredible thicket. If someone else doesn’t take action, for instance in Congress, we’re running a real possibility of serious Internet regulation. It’s going to be bizarre.

Update: Lots of buzz about this:

- Steven Bainbridge: “Thank You Senators McCain and Feingold … you [plural expletive deleted]“
- Pajama Hadin: “The Coming Crackdown on Blogging”
- Rightwing Nuthouse: “BLOGOSPHERE… WE HAVE A PROBLEM”
- Say Anything: “Political Blogging To Be Outlawed?”
- Baronger’s Scribblings: “Political Prisoners coming to the United States?”
- Mike Krempasky: “FEC regulating Blogging?”
- Susanna Cornett, “Will blogging be restricted by the government?”
- Hennessy’s View: “McCain-Feingold Outlaws Blogging?”
- The Anchoress, “You knew this was coming, and right on time…”
- The invaluable Captain Ed, who has long assailed the back-door First Amendment violations of the McCain-Feingold Act, writes:

Bigger blogs will come under closer scrutiny, which means that any expression of support on CQ with a referential hyperlink may well get valued at more than the $2,000 maximum hard-cash contribution.

In order for me to operate under those conditions, I will need to hire a lawyer and an accountant to guide me through the election laws and calculate my in-kind donations on almost an hourly basis. How many bloggers will put up with that kind of hassle just to speak their minds about candidates and issues?

-More round-up from Red State, including reaction from the left side of the blogosphere. MyDD, for example, writes:

I swear to the gods, how idiotic can people be? If the 3 Democratic-appointed judges on the FEC panel manage to extend the 2002 campaign finance law to regulate political speech over the internet, we Democrats can say hello to the wilderness for sure.

RS’s Mike Krempasky is right about this:

Make no mistake – Democrats and Republicans together got us into this mess, including President Bush – who in the most glaring example of political cowardice of his administration signed McCain-Feingold.

But now that it’s becoming clear what sort of disaster we’re heading for as this law evolves and expands – the Democrats own this one. The Republican members of the FEC have seen the edge of the cliff and are trying to back away, only to be frustrated by the three Democratic appointees on the Commission. So I hope that our friends on the left side of the blogosphere will join us in urging those Democrats to stop this before it’s too late.

Consider it the first opportunity for the left-of-center bloggers to have their very own Sister Souljah moment.

Here’s hoping. In the meantime, here’s contact info for the FEC:

Federal Election Commission, 999 E Street, NW, Washington, DC 20463 (800) 424-9530

The commissioners’ pages are here.

Brad Smith’s home page quotation is particularly fitting as this battle of the Blogs Vs. Big Government looms:

“I want to note that the growth of regulation generally, or more precisely, the growth of the administrative state, is itself smothering democracy in America, not only in its particulars, but in its general, ubiquitous presence.”

–Bradley A. Smith, speech delivered at the Catholic University Law Review’s Election Law Symposium on September 23, 2000.

Just so no one forgets, here’s how each member of the Senate voted on McCain-Feingold back in ’01. And here’s how members of the House voted on the House companion bill known as Shays-Meehan.

Update II: Letters, we’ve got letters. There’s Captain Ed’s letter to Senators. And Mark Coffey’s open letter to Sen. McCain.

Via the Anchoress, here’s contact info for the entire Congress.

Meanwhile, LGF has a post on the blogger crackdown overseas.