SACRAMENTO, April 20 (UPI) -- Bloggers should be required to disclose payments they receive for promoting or criticizing candidates, a California ethics official said.
Ann Ravel, chairwoman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said voters have the right to know if a blogger is being paid to publish a message, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The FPPC, California's political watchdog agency, is a bi-partisan independent body created by a 1974 ballot initiative.
"In order for people to really know whether they can have faith and trust in the independence of recommendations they are receiving, they have to be aware" of any payments, Ravel said.
Campaigns are now required to disclose to the state any payments to Internet sites but the Times said they can pay consultants who in turn pay a blogger.
Ravel, who made her recommendation at a Sacramento conference on campaign finance, said the requirement would apply to anonymous bloggers.
Free speech advocates expressed reservations about the disclosure idea.
"This makes me nervous,'' said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for Web users, including bloggers. "People having the right to speak anonymously is important, so I look carefully at anything that might limit the ability of people to speak anonymously.''
