Congress Communicating via the Internet

Source: "In House, Tweets Fly Over Web Plan," by MICHAEL FALCONE, The New York Times, July 13, 2008.

The NYT has a story of bickering among members of Congress about the Congressional rules for the use of the Internet. I find convincing the comment attributed to the Speaker:

Noting her own technological bona fides (“I have a blog, use YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Digg, and other new media to communicate with constituents”), Ms. Pelosi said that the Democrats’ proposal would relax rules that prohibit members from posting on sites other than the House.gov domain.

Of course the Congress should take advantage of advances in technology to improve communication between members and their constituents. Ideally, the disintermediation of that communication should improve our democracy. The easier it is for constituents to make their views known to their representatives, the more likely that those views will be represented. The better the representatives can communicate with their constituents, the more those constituents will benefit from the information available to the Congress (members and their staffs). The free communication possible with the Internet should make politics less dependent on sources of finance for communication, and should even the playing field between those who command financial resources and those who don't.

Still, I would appreciate thoughtful consideration of appropriate regulation of Internet mediated communication in politics by our legislators. There is always a possibility that a powerful information and communication technology will be misappropriated by those with the power to do so.

Let us watch the legislative and regulatory process to make sure that it improves rather than detracts from our democratic processes!