Capuano responds to criticism, defends Internet recommendations

U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville) responded Wednesday to a conservative uproar criticizing his recommendations regarding changing the rules of where members of Congress can post videos on the Internet, calling the criticisms "laughably inaccurate assertion" and "temper tantrums."U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville)

On Tuesday, Capuano, the chairman of the Congressional Commission on Mailing Standards, sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.), the chairman of the Committee on House Administration, containing recommendations to regulate where members may post videos on the Internet, because members have had difficulty hosting videos on the House.gov domain. Such regulations, he wrote, are necessary to prevent members' videos from commercialization.

Republicans on the Internet and in Congress quickly and forcefully reacted to the letter, saying Capuano's recommendations would restrict the flow of information between constituents and their representatives in Congress.

"I'm writing to alert you to an attack on free speech that is making its way through Congress," House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) wrote in a memo to "Online Community and Activists." "This attack, which should concern activists of all political affiliations across the ideological spectrum, comes in the form of a new congressional rule that would prohibit Americans from viewing content published by Members of Congress on websites that are not ‘approved' by the Committee on House Administration."

"The committee," Boehner went on, "considering the adoption of new rules that would require outside websites such as YouTube to comply with House regulations before Members of Congress could post videos on them. Under the proposal, the House Administration Committee would develop a list of ‘approved' websites, and Members of Congress could post content only such websites."

In a statement Wednesday longer than three pages, Capuano emphatically denied that his recommendation sought to limit communications between constituents and members of Congress.

"The ONLY item we seek to address is LOOSENING existing rules to allow members to post videos as a first step toward making the rules meet our constituents' expectations regarding how they communicate with us in the 21st century," Capuano said. "This was completely ignored during the years that Republicans controlled Congress while the Internet grew exponentially. It is currently against House rules to post video on any site with commercial or political advertising or to use taxpayer-funded resources to post outside of the House.gov domain."

Capuano also said that his letter only addressed videos, "not blog postings, online chats, or any other written form of communication."

"Any assertion to the contrary," he added, "is a lie."

Some on the right, though, were still not convinced. David All, a GOP Internet consultant who blogs on technology issues at TechRepublican.com and who has written about improving the use of the Internet in Congress, said any restrictions place an undue hurdle between constituents and their representatives.

"I'm not really concerned about the members," he said. "I'm concerned about citizen and constituent access."

"Congress should be more concerned with finding way to communicate more effectively instead of putting up more stop signs," he added. "Citizens are forced to only find their members of Congress where their members of congress are allowed to be. I think that's a really misinformed understanding of the purpose of the Internet and providing more access and availability to the citizens who elect these representatives...I believe every member of Congress should be on every web site out there."

Capuano, however, said that with no regulation, member videos run the risk of being used for commercial purposes.

"Our only concern is commercialization - not imposing limits on free speech," he said. "It is amazing to me that Republicans think they can obscure the issue with this completely false assertion."

"Apparently the Republicans spreading these lies would rather operate without rules and open the House to commercialism. Maybe they don't care if an official video appears next to a political advertisement for Barack Obama or John McCain, creating the appearance of an endorsement. And I guess they don't care if constituents clicking on their videos will be treated to commercials for anything you can imagine, from the latest Hollywood blockbuster to Viagra. 

"Certainly, advertisements are a reality in today's world and most people can distinguish.  However, it is also a reality that Members of Congress who use taxpayer money to communicate with constituents should be held to the highest possible standard of independence - and the appearance of independence."