Startup idea: a weekly email newsletter containing a list of bills your representatives in congress voted on (or introduced/co-sponsored), along with some "like" and "dislike" buttons. Home page maintains a prominent list of representatives most "disliked" by their constituents.<p>This whole SOPA debacle has convinced me more than ever that the feedback loop between constituents and representatives is absolutely <i>terrible</i>. This would be an attempt to solve the problem (via public humiliation).
I called my Senator's office yesterday and my conversation was very different. While the Senator has not decided his position yet, the young lady (god that makes me sound old) told me that they have taken many calls opposing SOPA.<p>I once had an aide from my Senator's office call me to ask for more clarification on an email I'd sent them about aviation usage fees. I was probably on the phone with the aide for 30 minutes as he took notes and clarified points. It wasn't a fluff call; he was legitimately gathering information to present to the Senator.<p>Not all is lost; there are still Senators out there, like mine who care about their constituents and listen. <i>Keep the pressure up.</i>
Why not record a few of the calls and post them online. NY law says you can record your calls as long as one of the parties on the call is aware it's being recorded (i.e. you).<p><a href="http://www.rcfp.org/can-we-tape/new-york" rel="nofollow">http://www.rcfp.org/can-we-tape/new-york</a><p>It'd be interesting to have a politician's office on the record stating they're in favor of censoring the internet.
The deadline for filing for the NY Senate Democratic Primary is May 21st. That means there is real time to find an anti-SOPA candidate to primary Schumer.<p>I also think somebody should think seriously about launching a PAC/SuperPAC around this. Calls help, but in washington money talks louder. Launch an 'internet pac' or 'innovation pac' with promises to put money in to Primarying or defeating pro-SOPA/PIPA politicians, and they'll start to listen. They know that the tech world has a lot of money, and can organize. We just need to do it.
Keep in mind, the people who answer your calls are (likely unpaid) high school or college interns, not "staffers." They are not the people who research or discuss policy issues, they likely are not very aware of the candidate's legislative positions except on issues that generate lots of angry calls from constituents with time on their hands, like Medicare benefits for seniors. They are not making official statements.
I'm unsurprised people aren't calling in support; after all they don't need to campaign...<p>I also think people, i.e. the masses, aren't really aware yet. Most I am sure will be opposed when they figure it out, but there will be a proportion in favour.<p>I have seen people on Facebook posting in support.
So politicians can be bought, I meant lobbied, but won't answer to constituency? Time for tech lobbying groups to fund and put their candidates on the ballots. The Swedish Pirate Party has the right idea.<p>Politic is the game of deciding whose money are "redistributed" to whom. If we don't band together, we will be in the receiving end of these time and again.
Everyone, keep calling. This is evidence that Senators are getting lots of calls opposing PIPA. Even if it seems like they are not affecting anything, they are still (presumably) recording the number of opposition calls they get, and most of these Senators (presumably) still care about re-election. I still believe in tipping points. I have to...<p>But thanks for this information as well. The tipping points do not seem to be on our horizon, and information about the responses from senator offices, if it goes viral, can hopefully have a much-needed amplifying effect...
They really need to split out the "censor counterfeit products" from the "censor the Internet" part. Everyone is fine with the first, nobody is fine with the second. Let's meet in the middle.
"we are past the point where the internet should be considered a stand-alone industry."<p>I agree.. but it should be more than an industry. I spend more time on the internet than I do with my girlfriend. The internet is beyond a place where I work. It is a nation in a new dimension of space. As such it needs it's own regulation isolated from any individual land based nation-state.
I just spoke with two offices for representatives in Michigan and the basic response you'll receive is: "we'll take note of your opposition and pass it along to the representative."<p>I asked for a meeting and was told that I could either show up at the representative's office or leave a note.<p>It takes 5 minutes to do this, so please take a moment and call.
They say money is the Mother's milk of politics. I think someone should organize a political action committee to defend the Internet. It's important to keep it apolitical and target only those trying to censor or impede the net. In Sen. Schumer's case the solution is to primary him.
So, this is a great example of the system failing us.<p>Idea:<p>1. Run for official office (senator, rep., pres., whatever).<p>2. Put up website with list of issues, allow people to vote if they add a comment per vote.<p>3. Put up link to opencongress or whatever to track your record on the bill.<p>4. Vote in office according to the trends on the website. If you vote against prevailing opinion, you are trivially found out.<p>5. On banner of website, post the number of votes you did following the polls on the site versus the number of times you dissented.<p>6. Enjoy making history.<p>~<p>This seems to me to be a great way of matching the existing system interface without actually giving up a democracy.
We're going to need a new DNS system, plain and simple. A complete replacement for ICANN and one that bypasses the United States. The walls are going up around this regime and like the other authoritarian bills passed (Patriot Act, DHS etc) these bills will eventually pass. So planning needs to start now.
This article ends with direct lines to call both DC and NYC offices of Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand. She also lists a sample script. Someone, if they have the resources and money (for paying for calls), could easily create an automated Twilio script to auto-dial this number with a pre-formatted script and insert some dynamic text for a name and phone number. You could then create a website for people to voice their concerns and auto-dial with an automated message on their behalf.<p>Thoughts?