Could the FEC Crack Down on Political Blogging?

Federal Election Commission commissioner Bradley Smith suggests that bloggers may be in violation of the McCain-Feingold federal election laws if they link to campaign websites or even forward candidate press release content.

The fundamental question is whether bloggers are seen by the FEC as journalists or advertisers. If the FEC considers blogs to be advertisers, that could put political blogs at risk of being considered campaign contributors and therefore subject to McCain-Feingold contribution limits. As Smith explains:

The real question is: Would a link to a candidate's page be a problem? If someone sets up a home page and links to their favorite politician, is that a contribution? This is a big deal, if someone has already contributed the legal maximum, or if they're at the disclosure threshold and additional expenditures have to be disclosed under federal law.

Certainly a lot of bloggers are very much out front. Do we give bloggers the press exemption? If we don't give bloggers the press exemption, we have the question of, do we extend this to online-only journals...?

It would seem like any kind of FEC regulation would apply to blogs and websites that actively support a candidate or a party, as opposed to those that report objective news. But still, the FEC would have to determine what actually constitutes a donation. Would a link to a candidate's website -- especially a site that solicited cash contributions -- be considered a donation? And if so, what would be the value of a link? Could the FEC consider the cost of creating or maintaining the blog or website a donation as well?

Smith personally feels that the FEC trying to regulate the Internet is a bad idea, and opening up the proverbial can of worms:

I'd like someone to say that unpaid activity over the Internet is not an expenditure or contribution, or at least activity done by regular Internet journals, to cover sites like CNET, Slate and Salon. Otherwise, it's very likely that the Internet is going to be regulated, and the FEC and Congress will be inundated with e-mails saying, "How dare you do this!"

This is an incredible thicket. If someone else doesn't take action, for instance in Congress, we're running a real possibility of serious Internet regulation. It's going to be bizarre.

A group called the Online Coalition has posted a petition to FEC chairman Scott Thomas urging the commission to clarify its rules respect bloggers' and webmasters' right to free speech, saying in part: "Like the town hall meeting, online political activism is a vital part of American civic life. We encourage the FEC to provide bloggers, online journalists, and everyday cyber-citizens with the same freedoms that individuals and traditional journalists are free to exercise elsewhere." The letter's signers cover the political spectrum, from the conservative Heritage Foundation and RedState.org to the liberal Daily Kos. Readers are encouraged to "sign" the petition as well, as of now, the letter has 758 signatures.

Source: C|Net

Is the US Ready for a Female President?

Hillary versus Condi in 2008? It's entirely possible, according to a recent Marist Poll.

The March 8 survey found that Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton was the runaway favorite among Democrats to run for President in 2008. Among registered Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 39% favored Clinton. Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry came in a distant second with 21%.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, the polling is much tighter. Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani led with 25% favoring him as a 2008 GOP candidate. But close behind was Senator John McCain, with 21%.

However, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came in a fairly strong third, at 14%. She also has a 52% approval rating as the nation's top diplomat among voters of all persuasions.

Of course, 2008 is a long way off in political terms, and all of this presumes that the favored candidates actually choose to run and don't get tripped up by scandals and snafus between now and then. But the high opinions of both Clinton and Rice in the survey show that Democrats, Republicans and independents alike are all prepared to take a female presidential candidate seriously.

IT Hiring, Salaries On the Rise

Employee retention is going to be a top concern of CIOs and information technology managers in the coming years, as IT hiring rebounds and salaries rise by as much as 15% over the next three years. As managers know, it can cost up to 2.5 times an employee's annual salary to hire a replacement, so investing in existing employees is truly cost-effective.

Savvy IT managers and executives will focus on employee education, incentive plans, work-life balance and succession plans over the coming years to keep the best employees. Meanwhile, managers will be held accountable for employee retention, and will be encouraged to improve their leadership, communication and team-building skills.

Retention will likely be a crucial issue in the case of female IT workers. Women are leaving IT in ever-increasing numbers, citing stress and the difficulties of balancing work and family.

In the past, many IT organizations have paid lip service to these concepts, but if the hiring statistics remain on track, they are going to have to put them into practice to remain competitive.

Sources: NewsFactor, CIO Update

Growing Your Own Replacement Teeth

Advances in stem cell research and bioengineering have led to successful experiments in growing replacement teeth, as reported by the International Association for Dental Research. Using post-natal dental stem cells, researchers believe that they can one day cultivate replacement sets of teeth, eliminating the need for dentures and artificial tooth implants.

Sources: Eurekalert, GeniusNow

Harnessing Bluetooth Viruses for Messaging

Could a piece of code such as Cabir, the virus that began infecting Bluetooth devices in February, be leveraged as a messaging tool? That's the question being asked by mobile device technologists. Pranksters in the UK are already using Bluetooth to swap videos of their escapades, but others are thinking of how to use Bluetooth for more constructive means.

A Bluetooth messaging client could allow phones and other devices to bypass other networks to receive "broadcast" messages and data, but for security's sake, it could only be done in highly controlled environments such as schools and businesses. The code would also have to use some kind of certificate or public-private authetication key to ensure that a sent message stayed within the clearly defined group of recipients. People wanting to participate in "flash mobs" might want to play with this, but it could have other applications -- entertainment, education and even marketing are just a few applications. But again, the security issues inherent in making Bluetooth "discoverable" need to be addressed first.

Sources: The Mobile Technology Weblog, Smart Mobs

Norweigan TV Uses Video Phone to Broadcast Live Ski Race

Norway's state-owned TV network NRK claimed a technological first last week when it broadcast a ski competition live via a 3G video phone.

An NRK reporter, who participated in Sweden's 90-kilometer Vasaloppet cross-country ski marathon, used the video phone broadcast the race live from a racer's perspective... not unlike the in-car cameras used by NASCAR. As expected, the images were of lesser quality than those captured by professional-grade TV cameras, but the video phone offered the advantages of small size, light weight and low cost.

NRK is encouraged enough by the experiment to consider using video phones in the future to cover breaking news and sports events -- situations in which heavier gear might be unavailable or impractical.

The reporter, incidentally, finished the race in 2,119th place.

Source: AP (Excite)

IKEA Caught in Cultural Tug-of-War

IKEA, the Swedish-based furniture retailer famous for its "assemble it yourself" products, has run afoul of one cultural standard while trying to appease another. The Norweigan government has accused the company of being sexist by not featuring women in the illustrations of its instruction manuals. Yet IKEA, which has stores in 32 countries, says it uses only men or gender-neutral characters because depicting women might offend customers in Muslim nations.

Says Norweigan prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, "It's important to promote attitudes for sexual equality, not least in Muslim nations. [IKEA] should change [their manuals]. There's no justification for it." Norway has historically taken an aggressive stance on issues of gender equality.

IKEA defends its practices, saying it is trying to be sensitive to its Muslim customers. This conundrum, though, illustrates the perils of doing business in a global market, and trying to appeal to customers on the extreme ends of the cultural spectrum. Up until about 20 years ago, most "global" businesses served (or only cared about) mainly Western markets that shared similar social values. But as businesses increasingly move into Africa, Asia and the Middle East, they will find that practices demanded by one marketplace will deeply offend another. And when that happens, businesses will have to make some tough choices. For as the saying goes, when you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody.

Source: CNN/Money