The government just made it harder for you to weigh in on federal rules

"For years, advocacy groups made it easy for Americans to weigh in on federal regulations. If a proposed rule threatened internet freedoms or environmental protections, organizations could set up simple campaign sites: type your comment, hit submit, and your feedback went straight into the federal record. During the 2017 net neutrality fight, more than 1.6 million comments reached the Federal Communications Commission in a single day."

"As 404 Media first reported, the General Services Administration (GSA), which runs Regulations.gov, abruptly disabled the "Post" function on its public API (that is, the software gateway that lets outside applications talk directly to a government website). Until last week, groups could batch-submit comments collected on their own websites. Now, only federal agencies can use the tool. Attempting a submission returns a 403 error."

"The difference may sound like a minor technical hurdle, but in governance, access is everything. Rule-making only works as a democratic mechanism if ordinary people can take part without needing specialized knowledge or legal help. By raising the friction, the government is effectively narrowing the field to insiders, lawyers, and industry lobbyists-the very groups that already dominate policymaking. (GSA did not respond to Fast Company 's request for comment.)"

The General Services Administration disabled the Regulations.gov public API 'Post' function that allowed outside applications to batch-submit public comments. Advocacy groups previously collected comments on campaign sites and submitted them directly, yielding large participation like 1.6 million comments during the 2017 net neutrality fight. The API now returns a 403 error for non-agency submissions, leaving only a cumbersome web form requiring docket numbers, personal details, file uploads, and captchas. Increased friction will likely reduce civic participation and concentrate rulemaking input among insiders, lawyers, and industry lobbyists who already dominate the process.

Read at Fast Company