VANCOUVER (CKNW/AM980) -- A former NDP advisor is accusing Elections BC of trying to regulate the Internet. David Schreck has been told to register his personal website under the Elections Act because Elections BC says it qualifies as election advertising. But Schreck says Elections BC is interfering with free speech. The site warns visitors about the potential for a BC Liberal sweep of all provincial ridings this election.

I tend to agree with Schreck. And not just because I'm an NDPer. I think he has a valid point. I'm a great fan of the Internet, because I think that it's a great medium for information exchange. And I think that the Internet should be totally unregulated. By Elections BC or anybody else. Schreck can say whatever the hell he wants. This isn't advertising! This is him stating an opinion! I mean....okay, did you look at the website yet? If you didn't bother, and I know most of you won't, it's actually quite good. Some goofy pictures are of questionable taste, but basically, it warns against the problems of one party having all of the seats in the House. And it questions Gordon Campbell. Well....I believe that one of my entries into this weblog has said basically the same things (albeit not so elegantly as Schreck), but I'll be damned if register my website under the Eletions Act! Forget it. I'll say whatever the hell I want, and I don't care what anybody says. This is the internet, and I'm anonymous, and I can say what I want. Schreck isn't anonymous, but he can say whatever the hell he wants too. Gordon Campbell, if he wanted, could go to geocities and get some free webspace and write "Vote for Campbell" all over it, and I wouldn't care. The internet is a medium for exchanging information FREELY. Nobody is forced to read it, or to believe it. Sigh. The regulation of the last free medium on the planet. What a tragedy.

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