American bloggers are lobbying the US authorities to exempt their online diaries from regulations that could place heavy restrictions on political websites.
US election officials have as yet eschewed oversight of the internet, siding with activists who claim an unregulated web is an essential incubator for expanded political participation and free speech.
However, subsequent presidential election campaigns have illustrated how online political activity has become increasingly sophisticated, leading to calls that bloggers who receive outside financial support should be identified and subject to regulation.
A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that just over one-third of US adults went to the internet during the 2004 elections to read political news, share views, volunteer, or make a political donation.
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Since John McCain attracted interest by becoming the first major political figure to raise money online, candidates have raised tens of millions of dollars through the internet while online political advertising and campaigning have become commonplace.
Leading bloggers support claims they have become an influential part of the political process, but argue regulation would now hamper the political process.
“I like to think of myself as just a guy with a blog, but it’s clear that ‘just a guy with a blog’ is different today than it was when I started three years ago,” Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, founder of the popular DailyKos.com, told AP.
“One sign of having arrived is when government regulators start wanting to poke their fingers into what you do.”
Mr Moulitsas testified yesterday at a hearing on a US Federal Election Commission proposal that would extend existing campaign finance rules to the internet.
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The FEC move, if successful, could place restrictions on some bloggers, possibly preventing them, for example, from linking to official campaign fund-raising sites.
Mr Zuniga urged the FEC to take a hands-off approach, claiming that regulation would stifle the internet’s ability to involve voters.
“Anybody can participate. Anybody can have a voice. And any regulation that potentially chills that participation, I think, is a net detriment to the medium,” he said.
Michael Krempasky, the founder of RedState.org, said the FEC should treat bloggers like traditional media and exempt them from campaign finance regulation.
“What goal would be served by protecting Rush Limbaugh’s multimillion-dollar talk radio program, but not a self-published blogger with a fraction of the audience?” Mr Krempasky said when he appeared before the commission.
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Duncan Black, who founded atrios.blogspot.com, said: “I think once you do achieve a certain degree of traffic, influence, notoriety - however you want to call it - eventually the outsider label is not perfectly applicable anymore.”