Congressman Proposes 2-Year Ban on Internet Related Bills

A congressman has suggested a new proposal should come into fruition in order to temporarily stop the federal government from producing bills and regulations related to the internet.

Recent attempts to regulate the open web in the form of SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA have all been shelved after its failure to be passed in Congress. U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, who was one of the strong supporters against the former two bills, released a draft of the proposed bill in question, titled the "Internet American Moratorium Act 2012", to Project Madison, a crowdsourcing platform.

The bill, if it did pass, it would "create a two-year moratorium on any new laws, rules or regulations governing the Internet." The Internet American Moratorium Act 2012 discussion draft states:

SEC. 3. It is resolved in the House of Representatives and Senate that they shall not pass any new legislation for a period of 2 years from the date of enactment of this Act that would require individuals or corporations engaged in activities on the Internet to meet additional requirements or activities. After 90 days of passage of this Act no Department or Agency of the United States shall publish new rules or regulations, or finalize or otherwise enforce or give lawful effect to draft rules or regulations affecting the Internet until a period of at least 2 years from the enactment of this legislation has elapsed.

Following the proposed bill being posted to Project Madison, Issa linked the draft bill on Reddit. He said on the aggregation site: "Together, we can make Washington take a break from messing w/ the Internet."

"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," an unnnamed spokesman for Issa told CNN.

A recent bill, if passed, would have given the feds unprecedented, warantless access to American users' email accounts, as well as other private data such as Google Docs files and Twitter direct messages. Following an uproar, the congressman amended the bill for the second time and reverted it back to serve its original purpose of protecting privacy.

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  • contentsmayvary
    "Darrell Issa, who was one of the strong supporters against the former two bills"

    "Supporters against"? Not "opponents of"? Tisk. Journalists and their poor grammar.
    Reply
  • Silly congressman, the government doesn't need to follow any laws.
    Reply
  • wannabepro
    Good beginning, but now we've got to:
    A. Re-elect this guy.
    B. Help him to understand that this bill should be for over 9000 years.
    C. Pass the bill.
    D. Buy Black Ops 2 and start playing Tranzit.
    Reply
  • Jerky_san
    Gotta admit this is one of the first things out of a senator's mouth in a while that makes sense..
    Reply
  • contentsmayvary
    Have to agree with that. :)
    Reply
  • mikenygmail
    20? Try 200 - Maybe by then we will have advanced enough not to need this anymore.
    Reply
  • mikenygmail
    Wishful thinking on my part, thinking it was 20...
    Reply
  • memadmax
    They know they can't pass anything with a republican controlled House...
    So thats why you have this bill for 2 years in the probable hopes that the Dems win back the house in 2014...

    Good Luck Jim >_>
    Reply
  • the great randini
    this sounds like a good idea to me, i think about sopa and how they tried to pass bills about things they dont even understand. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltHITod2ONs
    Reply
  • @memadmax: You do know that Issa is a Republican, right?
    Reply