Undercover campaigning on the Web
As hundreds of thousands of people view a brief, provocative video clip on the Internet slamming Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's run for the presidency, federal election law suggests that whoever paid for, produced and posted the spot might never be known.
The reason: The Federal Election Commission last year issued regulations leaving Internet political communications all but unfettered.
As such, the anti-Clinton spot that has generated buzz on YouTube, in blogs, and in the mainstream media in the last few days will probably be followed by many more, with potential political impact.
The spot, the first such salvo to attract attention in the 2008 presidential campaign, is a rip-off of a famous Apple Computer ad that aired during the 1984 Super Bowl -- and is derivative of a similar Internet ad aimed at Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) last year.
In an example of the mischief that can play out on the Internet, the anti-Clinton ad implies, but doesn't directly state, that the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was behind it. Obama denied involvement.
Another rip-off is already targeting Obama. A Clinton spokesman said he was unaware of the Obama spot.
None of it is traceable, at least not without a subpoena. YouTube assures its users their privacy will be protected.
"Free speech. That simple," said Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Forum of New York, which tracks the confluence of politics and the Internet. "Posting a video is no different than sitting in a coffee shop and voicing your opinion."
Others see dangers.
"When it is not regulated, you can take any amount of money from any source, including foreign entities, and you are not required to disclose it," said Carol Darr of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet at George Washington University.
"There are a lot of people around the world who care about who the next president is," she said. "If they can have an effect without leaving fingerprints, it is naive to think they won't."
Last April, after a lengthy review, the FEC issued regulations that treat the Internet "as a unique and evolving mode of mass communication and political speech that
"The vast majority of Internet communications are, and will remain, free from campaign finance regulation," the commission wrote, adding that it was "affirming that Internet activities by individuals and groups of individuals face almost no regulatory burdens under the Federal Election Campaign Act."
