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."

Internet Regulation Bill

CNN.com is carrying an story this morning (Nov. 28) about Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California proposing a two-year ban on all new federal legislation regulating the Internet.

Issa, an advocate for Internet freedoms, posted a draft of his bill, the Internet American Moratorium Act of 2012, online last Nov. 26 on Project Madison a crowd-sourcing platform that allows citizens to amend individual passages of legislation by adding or striking language. On Nov. 27th., he posted a link to the bill on Reddit, the social news site, inviting users to suggest changes to the proposed legislation, saying he would begin taking questions from users as of the morning of Nov. 28th..

CNN also reported that "it was not immediately clear whether Issa's proposed moratorium would apply to his own Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act, introduced last January, which would seek to protect U.S. copyrights and trademarks from infringement by foreign websites, and that the immediate reaction on Reddit was mixed with some users confused about what point Issa was trying to make, while others saw it as a stunt." Issa's bill was referred to the House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet.

Senate Bill 2029, by the same name, was introduced last December by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Ohio CLE Changes Adopted

The Ohio Supreme Court announced yesterday that it has adopted continuing legal education (CLE) changes that will double the number of online credit hours attorneys could earn, allow attorneys to earn a portion of their CLE hour requirement by engaging in approved pro bono activities, and eliminate the requirement to file final reporting transcripts, effective January 1, 2014.

The changes to Gov. Bar R. X resulted from a year-long study by the Commission on Continuing Legal Education and incorporated feedback from a survey of the state’s judges and active attorneys about what changes they would like made to CLE requirements, according to Attorney Services Director Susan Christoff.


Text of the CLE Changes Here