WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- The Federal Election Commission will soon look at ways to tighten restrictions on political activities in cyberspace, Roll Call said Monday.
The idea make some FEC members uneasy.
"I don't think the FEC should do anything that restricts or interferes with the ability of citizens at the grass-roots level to use the Internet or support the candidates of their choice," FEC Vice Chairman Michael Toner said.
Under U.S. law, coordinated communications are considered campaign contributions subject to strict limits. Regulations adopted in 2002 carved out an exemption for coordinated political communications transmitted over the Internet, which is exactly the sort of thing the FEC now wants to review.
Toner said there is no evidence Congress intended to regulate the Internet when it enacted the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.
"Congress is clearly familiar with the fact that the Internet is an increasingly important tool in politics and yet did not mention it in the McCain-Feingold law so I still see no evidence that Congress intended to regulate the Internet at all," Toner said.
