"The State Department is looking for 'appropriate opportunities' to spend money inside and outside Iran," to "foster opposition" as part of "a more confrontational democratization effort." The Los Angeles Times writes, "The United States is already spending $14.7 million a year to broadcast Persian-language radio and television programs into Iran." The broadcasts include

Doug Ireland notes that, due to a legal decision, the Federal Election Commission is beginning to extend the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 to the Internet.

"Under the draconian conditions of the USA Patriot Act," reports the Guardian, "the FBI can use covert surveillance of 'terrorists' without the necessity of getting a judicial warrant." Last year, the FBI identified "animal rights extremists and eco-terrorism" as "a domestic terrorism investigative priority," concerning even mainstream environmental groups.