Brian Ries has the scoop on why lawmakers such as Rep. Darrell Issa are attempting to woo the fickle users of Reddit.
[H]ere’s what happened in a nutshell: lawmakers, time and time again, tried to introduce Internet-specific legislation that promised to give the government more power to fight online counterfeiters, copyright infringers, and/or hackers. All of them grew unpopular and were eventually tabled as experts each time rose up and found flaws with the legislation that might threaten the way the Internet works. There were protests. Internet shutdowns. Change in a near-perfect system, many felt, wasn’t good. The message, it seems, was received.
“After SOPA, PIPA, and other smaller brush fires in Internet policy over the last few years, if we learned nothing, we learned we can’t rush through policy without open debate and discussion,” an Issa spokesman explained to The Daily Beast when asked about the proposed legislation. He said they were hoping to include “good substantive input” from any and all stakeholders who might be impacted by such future legislative action.
As Ries notes, Issa will be answered questions in an "Ask Me Anything" at 10:30 AM EST today. If you'd like to inquire, discuss, or simply cajole the tech-friendly representative, here's the link.
