In an unusual step , a U.S. congressman is proposing a two-year ban on all new federal legislation regulating the Internet . Rep. Darrell Issa , a Republican from California who has been an advocate for Internet freedoms , has posted online a draft of his legislation , the Internet American Moratorium Act of 2012 . The bill would `` create a two-year moratorium on any new laws , rules or regulations governing the Internet . '' Issa first posted the complete text of the bill Monday on Project Madison , the nickname for a crowdsourcing platform that allows citizens to amend individual passages of legislation by adding or striking language . On Tuesday , he posted a link to the bill on Reddit , the social news site , where users quickly voted it to the top . `` Together , we can make Washington take a break from messing w/ the Internet , '' Issa said on Reddit , where he also invited users to suggest changes to the proposed bill . He said he will begin taking questions about it from Reddit users Wednesday morning . Issa is one of the more tech-fluent members of Congress and was an outspoken critic of the Stop Online Piracy Act , which would have penalized websites that host pirated content . That bill died this year amid near-unanimous opposition from the technology industry . It was not immediately clear whether Issa 's moratorium would apply to his own Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade ( OPEN ) Act , which would seek to protect U.S. copyrights and trademarks from infringement by foreign websites . Initial reaction on Reddit to his proposed moratorium was mixed . Some users were confused about what point Issa was trying to make , while others saw the move as a stunt . `` I have a problem with legislation that preemptively ties your hands for years at a time . You ca n't know what the internet or society will look like in six months , let alone two years , and making it harder to respond to emerging threats or opportunities is an abdication of your responsibilities as a member of Congress , '' wrote one Reddit user . `` This just seems to me to be more cheap political theater , along the lines of Grover Norquist 's 'We will never ever ever raise taxes for any reason ' pledge . '' `` The answer is NOT to ban new regulation . We need regulation , '' another said . `` But , I do n't believe ANYBODY in Congress has the vocabulary , is intelligent in knowing how the internet or computers work , or has the foresight to put current trends and future technologies together in a context to create those new regulation that protect the internet and it 's users/consumers . '' Issa 's Reddit post had drawn more than 2,000 comments by early Wednesday . Leslie Horn , writing for Gizmodo , also dismissed Issa 's idea . `` Open internet ? That 's a good thing . But a law that keeps congress from governing ? That 's not a good thing -- the internet is a big place , and the language of this law is very broad , '' she wrote . `` As it stands now , IAMA is just a discussion draft , meaning it will be a very long time before it 's even close to a vote . And while we 're for an open internet , a blanket ban is a bad idea . Let 's think about this one a little more , Rep . Issa . '' When asked why the congressman introduced the bill , a spokesman for Issa told CNN , `` 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 . '' The spokesman , who asked not to be named , declined further comment Tuesday .
Rep. Darrell Issa proposes halt to federal Web regulations . Issa , a Web-freedom advocate , posted draft of a bill online . He was an outspoken critic of the Stop Online Piracy Act .