US Congressman Proposes Two Year Ban on Internet Regulation

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After a long year that subjected internet users to a waging war between the internet and its government, a US congressman has proposed a bill, banning any more bills concerning the internet for two years.

Rep. Darrell Issa, a “Republican from California who has been an advocate for Internet freedoms,” posted a copy of his proposed legislation online this week, entitled ” The Internet Moratorium Act of 2012. A bill which would “create a two-year moratorium on any new laws, rules or regulations governing the Internet.”

“Together, we can make Washington take a break from messing w/ the Internet,” Issa said on Reddit where a copy of the proposed bill was posted. Reaction from the site garnered a mixed review, with many feeling skeptical as to whether or not the bill would be a successful preemptive strike, or just a proposed stunt that would flounder and fail.

“I have a problem with legislation that preemptively ties your hands for years at a time. You can’t know what the internet or society will look like in six months, let alone two years, and making it harder to respond to emerging threats or opportunities is an abdication of your responsibilities as a member of Congress,” wrote one Reddit user. “This just seems to me to be more cheap political theater, along the lines of Grover Norquist’s ‘We will never ever ever raise taxes for any reason’ pledge.”

“The answer is NOT to ban new regulation. We need regulation,” another said. “But, I don’t believe ANYBODY in Congress has the vocabulary, is intelligent in knowing how the internet or computers work, or has the foresight to put current trends and future technologies together in a context to create those new regulation that protect the internet and it’s users/consumers.”

When questioned about the motives behind introducing the bill, a spokesperson for the congressman said:

“After SOPA and PIPA (the Senate’s similar Protect Intellectual Property Act), it became very clear that we needed a cooling-off period to figure out a better way to create policy that impacts Internet users, job creators and all Americans.”

The bill has quickly become a hot topic of debate, but only time will tell whether or not it will reach the point of coming to an actual vote and into reality.

Image Credit: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images