How the GOP used Twitter to stretch election laws
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Re: How the GOP used Twitter to stretch election laws
#2The article also mentions that Republicans accused Democrats of doing a similar-but-not-the-same kind of thing some years ago.
Please keep in mind that this is politicians behaving badly, not Republicans behaving badly. Yes this time it was Republicans, but both parties do it.
The problem is horrendous set of incentives for politicians; something Larry Lessig is trying to do something about. http://www.mayday.us
Re: How the GOP used Twitter to stretch election laws
#3The article also mentions that Republicans accused Democrats of doing a similar-but-not-the-same kind of thing some years ago. Please keep in mind that this is politicians behaving badly, not Republicans behaving badly. Yes this time it was Republicans, but both parties do it. The problem is horrendous set of incentives for politicians; something Larry Lessig is trying to do something about. http://www.mayday.us
Yeah this "they did it first!" mentality makes me sick. It's a race to the bottom in American politics, and race that has no winners.
Re: How the GOP used Twitter to stretch election laws
#4Strange how "campaign finance laws" always seem to come down to suppressing speech.
Sounds like there's also serious doubt this is in any way illegal, e.g. this comment by "Daniel Tokaji, a professor of Constitutional Law at Ohio State University":
"A lot of things you and I would consider coordination are not coordination under the law. I don't think sharing polling data is going to be enough to establish that the campaign was materially involved in decisions about content, target audience or timing."
Outlawing "coordination" is a very dangerous slippery slope to go down, as Wisconsin recently showed.
Re: How the GOP used Twitter to stretch election laws
#5The article also mentions that Republicans accused Democrats of doing a similar-but-not-the-same kind of thing some years ago. Please keep in mind that this is politicians behaving badly, not Republicans behaving badly. Yes this time it was Republicans, but both parties do it. The problem is horrendous set of incentives for politicians; something Larry Lessig is trying to do something about. http://www.mayday.us
See my other comment on the details of the coordination law's restrictions; at first glance, the Democratic example seems to at minimum violate the restriction on content.
This sounds like it falls on the right side of the (very bad) law.