Bloggers to be jailed soon?

[Vortex]

Bloggers Who Criticize Government May Face Prison
Bill would allow rounding up and imprisoning of non-registered political writers

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Thursday, January 18, 2007

You'd be forgiven for thinking that it was some new restriction on free speech
in Communist China. But it isn't. The U.S. Government wants to force bloggers
and online grassroots activists to register and regularly report their
activities to Congress in the latest astounding attack on the internet and the
First Amendment.

Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com, a website dedicated to
fighting efforts to silence grassroots movements, states:

"Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill currently before the Senate,
would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate to 500 or more
members of the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to
Congress the same as the big K Street lobbyists. Section 220 would amend
existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on
First Amendment rights ever. For the first time in history, critics of Congress
will need to register and report with Congress itself."

In other words Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats may redefine the meaning of
lobbying in order that political communications to and even between citizens
falls under the same legislation.

Under current law any 'lobbyist" who 'knowingly and willingly fails to file or
report." quarterly to the government faces criminal charges including a possible
jail term of up to one year.

The amendment is currently on hold.

This latest attack on bloggers comes hot on the heels of Republican Senator John
McCain's proposal to introduce legislation that would fine blogs up to $300,000
for offensive statements, photos and videos posted by visitors on comment
boards.

McCain's proposal is presented under the banner of saving children from sexual
predators and encourages informants to shop website owners to the National
Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who then pass the information on to
the relevant police authorities.

Despite a total lack of any evidence that children are being victimized en mass
by bloggers or people who leave comments on blog sites, it seems likely that the
proposal will become legislation in some form. It is well known that McCain has
a distaste for his blogosphere critics, causing a definite conflict of interest
where any proposal to restrict blogs on his part is concerned.

In recent months, a chorus of propaganda intended to demonize the Internet and
further lead it down a path of strict control has spewed forth from numerous
establishment organs:

During an appearance with his wife Barbara on Fox News last November, George
Bush senior slammed Internet bloggers for creating an "adversarial and ugly
climate."

- The White House's own recently de-classified strategy for "winning the war on
terror" targets Internet conspiracy theories as a recruiting ground for
terrorists and threatens to "diminish" their influence.

- The Pentagon recently announced its effort to infiltrate the Internet and
propagandize for the war on terror.

- In a speech last month, Homeland Security director Michael Chertoff identified
the web as a "terror training camp," through which "disaffected people living in
the United States" are developing "radical ideologies and potentially violent
skills." Chertoff pledged to dispatch Homeland Security agents to local police
departments in order to aid in the apprehension of domestic terrorists who use
the Internet as a political tool.

- A landmark legal case on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of
America and other global trade organizations seeks to criminalize all Internet
file sharing of any kind as copyright infringement, effectively shutting down
the world wide web - and their argument is supported by the U.S. government.

- A landmark legal ruling in Sydney goes further than ever before in setting the
trap door for the destruction of the Internet as we know it and the end of
alternative news websites and blogs by creating the precedent that simply
linking to other websites is breach of copyright and piracy.

- The European Union, led by former Stalinist and potential future British Prime
Minister John Reid, has also vowed to shut down "terrorists" who use the
Internet to spread propaganda.

- The EU also recently proposed legislation that would prevent users from
uploading any form of video without a license.

- We have also previously exposed how moves are afoot to clamp down on internet
neutrality and even to designate a highly restricted new form of the internet
known as Internet 2.

Make no mistake, the internet, one of the greatest outposts of free speech ever
created is under constant attack by powerful people who cannot operate within a
society where information flows freely and unhindered. All these moves mimic
stories we hear every week out of State Controlled Communist China, where the
internet is strictly regulated and virtually exists as its own entity away from
the rest of the web.

The phrases "Chinese government" and "Mao Zedong" have even been censored on
China's official Web sites because they are "Sensitive phrases". Are we to allow
our supposedly Democratic governments to implement the same type of restrictive
policies here?

Under section 220 of the lobbying reform bill, Infowars.net could be required to
seek a license in order to bring this information to you. IF we were granted a
license we would then have to report our activities to the government four times
per year in order to bring you this information. Does that sound more like free
speech or more like totalitarianism?

[faceless]

I smell a big bonanza for web hosts based outside of the US... On a serious note though, I really can't see this law working. How many jurors would convict someone if the evidence before them was simply that the defendant had had a fair opinion?

If something similar happened here there would be large groups of protesters outside the police stations and courthouses involved. The cost to political opinion would be huge in itself, let alone the logistical aspect.

[alan1254]

For a country that never stops ranting about freedom its people are so quick to give it away