Internet Regulation Bill --- 2

We commented on Nov. 28th. about Congressman Darrell Issa's postings to social media site, Reddit, and how returns there were initially "mixed, with some users confused about what point Issa was trying to make, while others saw it as a stunt."

This morning, Nov. 30, NBCNews follows up saying that "by the morning of Nov. 8th., the time Issa had set for answering questions, the queries had turned into something of a dogpile., with, by far, the most popular question posed illustrated by Reddit user The_Milkman:who asked, 'Hey Darrell, why did you vote for CISPA?'" Indeed, NBC's article said," Issa's sponsorship of CISPA — the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act that was approved by the House, but has yet to be approved or vetoed by the president — was the topic of many questions and much ire… Issa's attachment to the controversial piece of legislation — which would expand government agencies' ability to access data from sites like Facebook and Twitter — seemed to poison his attempt to solicit Reddit's help from the start."

The article concluded by saying that "there's a lesson to be learned for politicians and other public figures who are considering this kind of open discussion on a site like Reddit: It's not always going to be a love-in, as it was with President Barack Obama's having crashed servers during the election when he appeared in an impromptu ‘Ask Me Anything’ post ... You may end up like Issa, with a front-page post and 2,500 comments calling you everything from an opportunistic hypocrite to a crony of big business."

But it also conceded that "regardless of the unfriendly atmosphere, Issa answered dozens of questions, including some openly hostile, but regardless of the tone of the conversation, the goal of procuring constructive input on the proposed legislation (the 'Internet American Moratorium Act' or IAMA) seems to have been achieved. A number of comments and suggested changes have been submitted at the site set up for this purpose, and various issues have been raised in the comment threads that may help improve the bill. And the high positive vote count on the IAMA itself indicates that the community is at least interested in discussing the topic."