Still, the tip of political e-commerce is beginning to poke up through the Web's surface. The site got 6 million hits in a month. Net logic holds that eyeballs equal dollars, and sure enough the controversial site was soon peddling T-shirts and bumper stickers featuring Bush's quote. And it gives a package of free collectibles to any Webmaster who picks up its banner. The Internet has already begun to transform the general advertising industry, and it will soon hold sway over the tens of millions of dollars spent every electoral season on television and radio ads.
Web advertising holds the strange position of being almost entirely unregulated.
Fraud and defamation laws presumably apply to Net advertising, just as they do to all advertising. According to federal regulations, beginning 45 days before a primary, any radio station that carries a prepared audio message from a presidential candidate is required to give equal time to any other candidate who requests it. As a practical matter, most radio stations in that situation would simply drop the Forbes editorials. But his Web site can continue to pump out a Netcast with no interference. Viewers might be asked to fill out petitions with their ZIP codes and e-mail addresses, which would be used to alert them to the ad's next installment.