We crack us down

Stories about pending regulatory action can be dull, unless you can whip up a little whiff of crisis, paranoia, and political oppression.

This should add a little sizzle to the question of the status of blogs, vis a vis publishing in general, journalism and advertising in particular:

Bradley Smith says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over.

In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list, depending on the details, could be punished by fines. CNET News.

The devil you say. Let us go further and opine that an intricate pay-per-hit formula will be arrived at, making it more economically efficient to burn dollar bills than to be an A-list blogghir.