More on Baldwin Against Free Speech

Kristian Knutsen usefully follows up with Tammy Baldwin’s press secretary, Jerilyn Goodman on HR 1606 and now HR 4194:

Though this might appear to be a niche issue, the ongoing war of words of FEC regulation of online communications, particularly with respect to blogs, forums, wikis, and other interactive formats, is a matter of general import. As the internet grows in importance as a communications and organizing medium, the application of federal regulations to the ether will have tremendous economic and political implications. On Nov. 2, Rep. Tammy Baldwin voted against H.R. 1606, titled the “Online Freedom of Speech Act.” Exempting all internet communications from the FEC regulatory sphere, the bill was promoted by online political pundits across the ideological spectrum, but particularly by the highest profile partisan bloggers, namely Democratic Party activist Markos Moulitsas and Republican Party activist Mike Krempasky (who is also a new Wal-Mart online PR hire).

I cannot imagine anything positive arising from regulation on this matter.

Google’s Free WiFi Offer to Mountain View

Silicon Beat:

As we noted earlier, Google wants to deploy free WiFi in its home town of Mountain View, and it’ll go before the city council next week to discuss its plans. Below is a link to a copy of the staff report that’s going to the city council (the city staff is endorsing the proposal), along with an attached letter from Google. Note the unusual candor with which Google explains its motives.
“In our self-interest, we believe that giving more people the ability to access the Internet will drive more traffic to Google and hence more revenue to Google and its partner websites.”

Proposal (PDF)