Call it reinventing government, Internet-style.
President Clinton says he wants to ditch the antiquated regulations that get in the way of electronic commerce.
"We must update laws and regulations developed before the advent of the Internet that may have the unintended effect of impeding business-to-business and business-to-consumer online transactions," Clinton wrote in a memo to federal agencies on Monday.
He asked the Commerce Department to create a panel that will ask the public and each US agency to identify regulations that could act as barriers to the growth of online transactions and shopping.
The panel is supposed to report its findings "in a timely manner." In most cases, Congress will have to act to rescind regulations, although some agencies may be able to do it on their own.
By all accounts, online shopping is booming. Yahoo reported Monday that shopping transactions had risen more than 400 percent from the same time a year ago. A recent survey found that the Net surpassed travel agent ticket sales among Thanksgiving holiday travelers.
But the odds of the feds staying out of the Internet regulation business are just about zero. Clinton said the government must ensure the "protection of the public interest" online.
Clinton noted that some "legal restrictions are the subject of pending legislation."
Among them:
- A Clinton executive order that outlaws the free export of privacy-protecting encryption software. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sponsored a lawsuit that seeks to overturn the rules.
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulations that require anyone who wants to publish opinions on commodity futures to ask for a license or go to jail for up to five years. The Institute for Justice has challenged the rules in court.
- A federal law making it a crime to post erotica on commercial Web sites. The ACLU has sued the Department of Justice to overturn the so-called Child Online Protection Act.
