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GOP Congressman Pushes Legislation on…Reddit?

Nov. 28, 2012 9:00pm Mytheos Holt

Alongside his zealous pursuit of Obama administration flubs as head of the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Darrell Issa of California has historically been on the forefront of technological issues within the Republican party. For instance, unlike some of his peers, Issa was a clear early opponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate counterpart, PIPA.

Now, Issa has taken the next step in his courtship of the internet, going so far as to float the idea for a bill banning regulation of the internet for two years on the massive internet aggregation site Reddit, where Issa also questions by its users. The Guardian reports on the reaction, which appears to be passionate, regardless of the feelings of individual users:

On Tuesday Issa offered to answer questions posted to the site about his Internet American Moratorium Act of 2012 which aims to curb laws, rules and regulation of the internet for two years.

Reddit users can comment, upvote or downvote on links posted to the site in an effort to stimulate discussion. Issa’s post had received more than 2,000 comments by Wednesday morning.

The question most Reddit users upvoted asked why Issa voted in favor of the controversial internet-regulating bill Cispa. The bill faced massive opposition from most of the Reddit community who believed it would endanger the online privacy of individual citizens.

Issa responded to the criticism of his support of Cispa by directing users to an earlier Reddit post where he said that he thought at the time that the benefits like a possible increase cybersecurity would outweigh the potential costs of the bill.[...]

In response to statements about Issa’s support of Cispa, Reddit user iJosjj said: “What a bummer. One second I feel like he might be trying to do a good thing and the next he’s just another political hack.”

Issa responded: “Good morning. I hope this isn’t a bummer. I’m trying to create a two-year cooling off period on new internet rules, regulations and laws. Period. I believe that is a good thing right now. And you should be wary of politicians who agree with you all the time.”

Reddit is known for its extremely liberal bent, making Issa’s openness a bit of a “Daniel in the Lion’s Den” moment. And indeed, some of the reaction was heavily skeptical, as many liberal users criticized Issa’s proposed legislation for the fact that its ban on regulation would also apply to net neutrality, a darling of the tech activist Left.

“This sounds like a backdoor toward preventing net neutrality to me,” user danny_ray wrote. “Stopping congress from regulating anything is just a free pass to the companies that run the show. This would allow companies like [Time Warner Cable] and [AT&T] to do whatever they please.”

“This is my understanding as well,” user madjoy added. “He’s putting it in reddit-friendly language (we want fewer regulations on your Internet, just like you!!) even though this bill would actually prevent GOOD regulations that stop evil (or at least, profit-hungry at the expense of your freedom) ISPs.”

Nevertheless, some users were willing to give Issa the benefit of a doubt, or at least were far less willing to accept the arguments of the more liberal users.

“The Internet is FINE without opening it to the Pandora’s box that is government regulation,” user relemhcs wrote. “You obviously know nothing about radio if you can honestly say you want the Internet to be regulated like radio. As soon as you start down the slippery slope of government control, there is no stopping it, it will no longer be the FREE and OPEN Internet that we know.”

The full set of comments on Issa’s venture onto Reddit can be found here.

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Comments (16)

SaturdaysWarrior76
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 1:14pm
I’m going to give Mr. Issa the benefit of the doubt for now. He seems to have been pretty consistent in going after the “bad guys”. Time will tell however… as always. But for now, the jury is still out on Issa. We shall see! (pretty sad that nowadays it’s so hard to trust ANYONE in Washington.) :(

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- VRW Conspirator
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:19pm
  Issa was my congressional rep for my 10 years in Riverside county in CA..there were times when he ticked me off…like with Bush and Comprehensive Immigration Reform…and on some issues like NDAA and Patriot reauthorization…but generally he is a good egg…even though he is a long time DC guy and I haven’t seen him be too hard on cutting spending outside the party line…
  he definitely is not like Ryan or Rand Paul on serious entitlement reform and cutting 100′s of Billions a year from spending…
  
  he seems to hold fast now to No Amnesty, No tax increases, and holding the Admin’s feet to the fire…he does take his role EXTREMELY serious….he might not be a perfect egg…nobody is…but Issa is one of the keepers….for now…
  
  Report this comment
nilo
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 8:56am
The internet is another ripe fruit that the Marxists have to take over. As of yet they haven’t been able to push it through, but given time and American government stupidity, they will. The internet is a prime example of free enterprize at work, and the one worlders can’t stand the thought of not controlling EVERYTHING. The U.N. is now ready to actively pursue taxing the internet, which will help finance their one world agenda. I don’t plan to vote for one singe RINO in 2014. With that said, I will also say, I don’t thing we will have the right to vote in 2014. Yes, I’m that pessimistic, but you know, I still Pray every day for America.

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- E.Souchak
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 9:38am
  Issa is a fraud, and he is playing us all. He has stiff armed people who have brought him serious info on corruption in Chicago.
  
  When will the Chicago Sun Times get their copies of the Blagojevich tapes and transcripts?
  
  http://illinoispaytoplay.com/2012/11/28/when-will-the-chicago-sun-times-get-their-copies-of-the-blagojevich-tapes-and-transcripts/
  
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piper60
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 2:32am
We don”t want any regulations on the internet. Period. If we let them put ONE regulation in now, guess what happens later. Next thing you know, we won’t be able to turn the darn fool thing off, and Big Brother will be looking in on us even more than he does now.

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tharpdevenport
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:58am
“Issa responded to the criticism of his support of Cispa by directing users to an earlier Reddit post where he said that he thought at the time that the benefits like a possible increase cybersecurity would outweigh the potential costs of the bill.[...]”

Mr. Issa, those who do not learn fom the passed are doomed to repeat it.

Benjamin Franklin:
“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

One need not necessarily agree all the time with a politicain, they simply need the politician to necessarily always agree with the Constitution and do right by it and the people.

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- November29
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 5:20am
  Don’t mess with the internet, it’s one of the few market driven industries left. Read fresh political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
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merchantsailor
Posted on November 29, 2012 at 12:14am
Whats a Reddit

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- NOTMOHAMMED
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 5:00am
  Like a ribbit.
  
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- e7705
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 7:46am
  Reddit is a website populated mostly by twenty year-old’s who are extremely liberal, atheist, math and science heads. They are pompous, opinionated, sanctimonious, and most glaringly – uninformed.
  
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Wdawg
Posted on November 28, 2012 at 10:33pm
Whatever you do, do not go to Reddit! nothing but viruses….

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- Kupo
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 11:04pm
  Uhh… I spend quite a bit of time on Reddit and I’ve never caught a virus. I think you might be doing something wrong.
  
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sparkyrules
Posted on November 28, 2012 at 10:18pm
Republican Congressman Issa of California has never finished the Fast and Furious investigation, to anybody’s satisfaction.Like most other Republicans,all show and no go.All bad with no balls.We’re left with the impression that Issa is just as corrupt as the rest.
And that impression is probably right.

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- FunFunFun
  Posted on November 29, 2012 at 5:57am
  I still like Issa a lot.
  
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BlackCrow
Posted on November 28, 2012 at 10:03pm
Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

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- MFHorn3
  Posted on November 28, 2012 at 11:20pm
  I like the Titanic reference BLACKCROW and I am inclined to agree with you. The only difference, however, between the U.S. and the Titanic is that 51% of the passengers on the Titanic probably didn’t vote to crash the ship into an iceberg like we did on Nov. 6th.
  
  Merry Christmas
  
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