Reddit is something of an unstoppable force on the Internet. The site has attracted the attention of those big and small, and even the President dropped by for an AMA. It’s an incredibly influential site, and one lawmaker wants to leverage that power in crafting a new bill.
The Hill reports that Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, the sponsor behind ECPA 2.0, will be crowdsourcing ideas for a new bill on Reddit this afternoon. The bill would be aimed squarely at putting a stop to the unwarranted domain seizures as part of the Justice Department’s “Operation in Our Sites” campaign.
For those unaware, the DoJ and ICE started up “Operation in Our Sites” in 2010 to shut down Web sites found selling or spreading copyrighted content without consent. The campaign has led to over 700 Web sites being shut down.
It should be noted that Lofgren doesn’t have a problem with copyright infringing Web sites being taken down. Her problem lies in the fact that there’s no due process and no chance for targeted Web sites to defend themselves. The DoJ just takes down a Web site without warning, and those affected have no real recourse in proving their innocence.
Of course, just throwing a bill into the House might not solve anything, and it may make matters worse. That’s why Lofgren is asking for Reddit’s help in crafting the bill. Those who live and breathe the Internet would have a much better idea on how to preserve the Internet versus those in Washington that have shown time and time again that they know nothing.
Lofgren’s Reddit post is not live just yet, but we’ll update this story when it does. It should be interesting to see what ideas the users of Reddit bring to the table. The community has proven in the past that is has a good handle on law, especially when it concerns the Internet.
UPDATE: You can check out Lofgren’s Reddit post here. There’s only 10 comments after three hours, but that may be due to Lofgren’s poor choice of posting in the /r/politics subreddit where topics are quickly replaced.
