THE ANALOGY TO ANNOYING INSECTS SEEMS ALL TOO APT:

'Blog Swarm' Stings the FEC (K. Daniel Glover, April 2, 2005, National Journal)

The Federal Election Commission's announcement that it intends to extend campaign finance restrictions to Internet communications is generating plenty of hostility online, particularly among the Web diarists known as bloggers.

After one FEC commissioner hinted that the agency might slap regulations on the Web activists sometimes credited with rallying the masses during the 2004 presidential election campaign, bloggers protested online. "This is something bloggers of all political stripes should unite against," syndicated newspaper columnist Michelle Malkin declared on her blog.

Most of the FEC commissioners insist that they have no interest in regulating the political speech of individual Web users. In draft regulations approved on March 24, the agency says that the proposed rules are designed to "have an extremely limited impact, if any, on the use of the Internet by individuals."

But many bloggers remain skeptical. In reaction to the FEC's plan to harness part of the Internet, individual online activists set off a "blog swarm."