Often evidence presented of Iran's abysmal human rights record is that nation's treatment of the cybercritics blogging away under that oppressive regime. However, with regulations being considered by the Federal Election Commission, there will soon be very little in principle distinguishing the Internet speech policies of the United States and one of the nations purported to be one of our most intractable enemies.
According to an interpretation of one ruling, bloggers could be charged with violating provisions of the campaign finance reform law for as little as linking to the website of a candidate they happen to favor.
I guess the best thing to do to keep what little speech rights we have remaining alive is to add pictures of dancing girls to our websites since the judiciary is reluctant to curtail salacious material (unlike political speech) and to assume anyone running for public office is by definition a scumbag and not worthy of a scintilla of support either virtual or actual.
Those sufficiently brainwashed by their overlords in the media/governmental complex might argue that the United States does not treat its dissidents in the same manner as an outlaw nation such as Iran. But in the light of overwhelming fines and court costs that will no doubt ruin the critics of the state, execution might actually be the more merciful alternative.
Copyright 2005 by Frederick Meekins
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