Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold, D-Wisc., introduced the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act in 2002, attempting to clean-up “soft money,” get rid of phony issue advertisements from corporations and unions and improve disclosure of independent expenditures and campaign contributions. While the intentions appeared good, the act, better known as McCain-Feingold, has now emerged as a threat to the Internet, bloggers, e-mail and free speech.

Republican commissioner on the Federal Elections Commission, Bradley Smith, talked with CNET news in March about the possible implications that McCain-Feingold could have on the Internet. His words were alarming when he mentioned that the FEC would be extending McCain-Feingold reforms to the Internet.

Smith explained that the six-member commission at the FEC had voted to grant the Internet an exemption from the new campaign finance reforms in 2002. But last September, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly overturned their exemption after Representatives Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Martin Meehan, D-Mass., sued the FEC.

Because McCain-Feingold regulates contributions to political candidates, the act forces the FEC to determine what is and isn’t a contribution on the Internet. The definition is unclear and could even be as broad as creating a hyperlink to a politician’s Web site, which could bring bloggers under the microscope and subject them to campaign finance law.

But can you really put a value on a hyperlink?

The pro-Internet regulation argument says you can. If a blogger who has a large amount of hits to his or her Web site links to a politician who then receives a boost in donations, that hyperlink could be worth thousands, if not millions.

While there is some understanding that Internet based advertising would be subject to regulation, the scope of the Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling extends to coordinated organizations on the Internet too. Simply having an e-mail list where a citizen not involved directly with a campaign sends out a message in an attempt to start a grassroots movement could be subject to McCain-Feingold.

The message of impending regulation on the Internet didn’t go over well in the blogosphere.

It is undeniable that during the November elections the Internet and bloggers played an important role for both sides of the political spectrum and providing a check – unwanted or not – on the media. The free reign and roam of the Internet has led to its success and importance as a new force in the political arena. Bringing the legislative hammer down on the Internet and its users won’t happen, however, without a fight.

News travels fast on the Internet, especially when it threatens speech.

Within eight days, onlinecoalition.com appeared, uniting over 3,600 bloggers from both sides of the political poles with one common petition and voice. But they aren’t just asking for an Internet exemption. They want something that’s much larger: federal recognition as press. The current law exempts the press, but only as broadcast, newspaper, magazine or periodical publications.

While giving the Internet freedom to grow and remain unregulated would be a benefit to the democratic political process in the United States, granting bloggers full press privilege could have dangerous consequences. Despite the noble efforts of some Internet pundits to expose and disclose, they are still largely unproven as journalists, and their credibility as a whole remains in question.

The voices of the bloggers have not gone unnoticed and some politicians are moving in a bipartisan effort to keep the Internet restriction free. Senator Harry Reid, D-Nevada, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, have introduced companion bills – S.678 and H.R.1606 – called the Online Freedom of Speech Act to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to “not include communications over the Internet.”

The efforts of Reid and Hensarling are a big step forward to maintaining the freedom of speech on the Internet around the topic that matters the most: politics. The unrestricted discourse and the ability to mobilize individuals to be involved in local and national politics works best on the Internet with real time communications and easy access to information. Preserving this growing tradition should be at the forefront of those who seek to ensure future democratization.