ABOUT YOU:

QUESTIONS FOR ALL INTERNET USERS:

1. Did you rely on any blogs or other non-traditional online media sites for political news, and if so which blogs or sites?

2. Beyond blogs and web sites, tell us about other specific Internet software or applications that provided you with political news, commentary or other speech during the last election cycle.

3. If you expressed your political views online in the last election cycle, did you consider or think about whether campaign finance laws applied to your speech?

4. If you did not express your political views online last year, was it at all because of any concern about campaign finance laws?

5. Did you or anyone you know decide against operating a political-oriented blog or web site because of concerns about the campaign finance laws?  Give us details.

6. Did you or someone you know engage in anonymous political speech during the last election cycle?  Do you think the anonymity was important, and if so, why?

7. Did you or anyone you know spend money to place Internet advertisements to express political opinions?  If so, how much was spent?

8. What is the smallest total amount of money one can spend to place one or more paid political advertisements or speech on a third party’s web site?  Give us details.

QUESTIONS FOR POLITICAL BLOG, WEB SITE OR E-MAIL OPERATORS:

9. If you have run an active political blog or other Internet political site, tell us how much the effort cost you, and generally what were your expenses?  Did you operate your own blog or web server, or did you use a third party’s servers (and if so what if anything did you pay for the use of the servers)?

10. If you have run a political blog or site, did you investigate the campaign finance laws and determine whether you had any obligations under them?  Did you consult an attorney (and if so, how much did you spend for legal advice)?

11. Did you or someone you know spend more than $250 on online election-related speech in 2004?  If so, how was the money spent and did any of your speech involve direct advocacy for or against a specific candidate for federal office?  Did you report your expenditure to the Federal Election Commission?

12. Can you give us examples of where two or more people collaborated on a web site, blog, or other form of online election-related speech (and if so, can you tell us how much money the group spent on the online speech)?

13. If you have run a political blog, tell us about how you got content, how much “reporting” or investigation did you do, and generally explain why you believe your blog was (or was not) a part of the news media?

14. If you have run a political blog or other Internet site and you have received formal press or media credential at a campaign or political event, provide us details.

15. If you have run a political blog or other Internet political site and you incorporated for that purpose, tell us why you incorporated.  What were the benefits of incorporation that were important to you?

16. If you have run a blog or other Internet site that discussed political issues as part of your professional life (for example, as a law or political science professor at a university), tell us about your situation.

17. If your political blog linked to a campaign web site or reposted campaign material, tell us what you did and whether you consulted with any campaign before your put up your link or posting.

18. Did your political blog or web site receive money directly from a political campaign or party (in the form of paid advertisements, direct support, or some other form of payment)?  If so, generally describe what happened.  Other than for money received for banner or other advertisements plainly associated with a candidate, did you disclose the fact that you had received money from a candidate?

19. Would you have run your political blog or web site if you had been required to disclose your home street address or telephone number on your site?  Why or why not?

20.Did you use bulk e-mail to express your political views or raise money for a candidate during the last election cycle?  If so, how many addresses did you typically target, where did you get the e-mail addresses, and how much (if any) did it cost to obtain the addresses?