Federal regulation of Internet coming, warn FCC, FEC commissioners

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Washington Examiner:

Democrats targeting content and control of the Internet, especially from conservative sources, are pushing hard to layer on new regulations and even censorship under the guise of promoting diversity while policing bullying, warn commissioners from the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Election Commission.

 

“Protecting freedom on the Internet is just one vote away,” said Lee E. Goodman, a commissioner on the FEC which is divided three Democrats to three Republicans. “There is a cloud over your free speech.”

 

Freedom of speech on the Internet, added Ajit Pai, commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission, “is increasingly under threat.”

 

Pai and Goodman cited political correctness campaigns by Democrats as a threat. Both also said their agencies are becoming politicized and the liberals are using their power to push regulations that impact business and conservative outlets and voices.

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Free speech for me, not for thee...

[Geee]

FEC member: Not my role to 'apply constitutional principles'

 

Upholding constitutional principles is not an appropriate role for a member of the Federal Election Commission, Democratic Commissioner Ann Ravel said on Thursday.

 

The comments came as part of a growing debate over a recent vote by Democrats on the commission to impose a penalty on Fox News for holding a Republican presidential debate. Democrats contended that the network should have been forced to include Mark Everson, a former IRS commissioner who ran for the GOP nomination, in one of the debates.

 

"We responded ... in our view, in a nonpartisan way, in a way that was consistent with the clear law," said Ravel, who also chaired the agency last year. "My role in the commission is not to apply constitutional principles because I'm not on the Supreme Court. If I were, I'd be happy to do so. We're a regulatory agency and our role is to follow the law and apply the law."

 

Her comment, which came in an interview with the Washington Post, seemed to contradict a statement Ravel made in May when she qualified her support for more regulations on the Internet. "I feel very strongly about the First Amendment and the rights of the press," she said at the time. "My point is that the Internet has advanced greatly ... and the FEC's rules about it are, potentially, obsolete. Our role is to talk about them."

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/fec-member-not-my-role-to-apply-constitutional-principles/article/2595407