Assemblyman Biondi, Meet Matt Drudge

Assemblyman Peter Biondi introduced legislation recently that would've forced posters to websites such as community boards to identify themselves and face potential slander or libel charges. To Mr. Biondi's shock, the blogosphere responded (including your humble correspondent) and Matt Drudge (a man who has had 3-billion--with a B--hits in the last twelve months) linked to the article about the legislation. Biondi never knew what hit him:

Biondi's staff drafted the measure late last year. In was introduced in January. The bill hadn't even made it to committee before a small weekly newspaper published an article about it and Internet news providers began spreading the word. Then, callers from as far away as Canada deluged Biondi's office with complaints.

"For a bill that's basically one of 45 just sitting there to be picked out – and for people in Portland, Oregon and Canadian broadcasters to be calling about it – it's a little bizarre," Biondi's Chief of Staff Scott Ross said during an interview. "For something that's not even on the radar screen in Trenton, it's incredible. It's definitely a first for us. It hit the Drudge Report and it was like 'Holy moly!"

Ross said that Biondi and his staff were responding to requests from local constituents who complained about the viciousness of local discussion boards littered with name-calling. They were shocked that the bill – drafted to bring decorum to Internet discussions – drew an intense response from Internet users far beyond the Garden State's boundaries.

"We veered out of our comfort zone with this one," Ross said. "We're usually open space, quality-of-life kind of guys. We veered into technology and we were pretty much taken off guard when got hit with a couple hundred e-mails last week."

I imagine the next elected official who attempts to curb freedom of speech just may think twice about it. A note to PR reps for politicians; embrace blogs because they can help you alot or harm you dramatically.

Cross-posted here.