Time for our own Super PAC?
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Now that things have died down a bit on the SOPA and PIPA front in U.S. politics, I have found the post game analysis online to be very interesting. In particular is a post from Joel Spolsky on G+: link to post on G+[^] In this post, he makes the point that we as an industry are: 1) Very powerful when we want to be. 2) We don't exercise that power often enough. Love it or hate it, involvement in the political process beyond just casting your ballot is required if you don't want your freedom trampled upon. The people in this industry are some of the smartest, most innovative, and most driven people on the planet; yet we can only organize ourselves to make a political change when our freedoms are only moments away from being removed? This seems far too late in the process for me, and quite frankly, I'm surprised that the last ditch effort worked for SOPA and PIPA. We need to be more proactive and push with as much singularity as we can muster to secure our interests as information workers. One idea I've been thinking of is the formation of a Super PAC for this purpose. While SOPA and PIPA have now been put to sleep, they are sure to be awoken soon. Will as many people notice, and be able to react just as quickly the next time? Are you willing to stake your freedom on it? With so much potential power a Super PAC can have behind it, with being able to solicit and spend unlimited funds to push a political agenda, it would seem like a good place to start. In looking at current PAC's, I am actually very surprised to find only 1 that is an information technology PAC. This is a PAC formed by Microsoft, called MSPAC, but since it is a corporate sponsored PAC it has many limitations on it for spending and soliciting. A Super PAC, organized by individuals has much less regulations surrounding it. We can call it "Nerds Against Nonsense", or NaN, and work to organize a sustained and directed effort of ensuring the freedoms of the technology age. Sure there are already a lot of technology lobbyists in Washington, but these are bought and paid for by big technology companies. They are looking out for their interests as a company, and not the greater good (though one would hope, but should not assume, that what is good for the comp
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Now that things have died down a bit on the SOPA and PIPA front in U.S. politics, I have found the post game analysis online to be very interesting. In particular is a post from Joel Spolsky on G+: link to post on G+[^] In this post, he makes the point that we as an industry are: 1) Very powerful when we want to be. 2) We don't exercise that power often enough. Love it or hate it, involvement in the political process beyond just casting your ballot is required if you don't want your freedom trampled upon. The people in this industry are some of the smartest, most innovative, and most driven people on the planet; yet we can only organize ourselves to make a political change when our freedoms are only moments away from being removed? This seems far too late in the process for me, and quite frankly, I'm surprised that the last ditch effort worked for SOPA and PIPA. We need to be more proactive and push with as much singularity as we can muster to secure our interests as information workers. One idea I've been thinking of is the formation of a Super PAC for this purpose. While SOPA and PIPA have now been put to sleep, they are sure to be awoken soon. Will as many people notice, and be able to react just as quickly the next time? Are you willing to stake your freedom on it? With so much potential power a Super PAC can have behind it, with being able to solicit and spend unlimited funds to push a political agenda, it would seem like a good place to start. In looking at current PAC's, I am actually very surprised to find only 1 that is an information technology PAC. This is a PAC formed by Microsoft, called MSPAC, but since it is a corporate sponsored PAC it has many limitations on it for spending and soliciting. A Super PAC, organized by individuals has much less regulations surrounding it. We can call it "Nerds Against Nonsense", or NaN, and work to organize a sustained and directed effort of ensuring the freedoms of the technology age. Sure there are already a lot of technology lobbyists in Washington, but these are bought and paid for by big technology companies. They are looking out for their interests as a company, and not the greater good (though one would hope, but should not assume, that what is good for the comp
Start off by randomly posting in varying places: I am NaN with a link to someplace other than here. (Nobody comes here anymore...)
So I rounded up my camel Just to ask him for a smoke He handed me a Lucky, I said "Hey, you missed the joke." My Mu[sic] My Films My Windows Programs, etc.
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Start off by randomly posting in varying places: I am NaN with a link to someplace other than here. (Nobody comes here anymore...)
So I rounded up my camel Just to ask him for a smoke He handed me a Lucky, I said "Hey, you missed the joke." My Mu[sic] My Films My Windows Programs, etc.
GenJerDan wrote:
(Nobody comes here anymore...)
:sigh: I know... I was a second away from posting this to the lounge, but then I remembered the no politics rule.
Be The Noise
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Start off by randomly posting in varying places: I am NaN with a link to someplace other than here. (Nobody comes here anymore...)
So I rounded up my camel Just to ask him for a smoke He handed me a Lucky, I said "Hey, you missed the joke." My Mu[sic] My Films My Windows Programs, etc.
GenJerDan wrote:
Nobody comes here anymore...
At least three. :)
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Now that things have died down a bit on the SOPA and PIPA front in U.S. politics, I have found the post game analysis online to be very interesting. In particular is a post from Joel Spolsky on G+: link to post on G+[^] In this post, he makes the point that we as an industry are: 1) Very powerful when we want to be. 2) We don't exercise that power often enough. Love it or hate it, involvement in the political process beyond just casting your ballot is required if you don't want your freedom trampled upon. The people in this industry are some of the smartest, most innovative, and most driven people on the planet; yet we can only organize ourselves to make a political change when our freedoms are only moments away from being removed? This seems far too late in the process for me, and quite frankly, I'm surprised that the last ditch effort worked for SOPA and PIPA. We need to be more proactive and push with as much singularity as we can muster to secure our interests as information workers. One idea I've been thinking of is the formation of a Super PAC for this purpose. While SOPA and PIPA have now been put to sleep, they are sure to be awoken soon. Will as many people notice, and be able to react just as quickly the next time? Are you willing to stake your freedom on it? With so much potential power a Super PAC can have behind it, with being able to solicit and spend unlimited funds to push a political agenda, it would seem like a good place to start. In looking at current PAC's, I am actually very surprised to find only 1 that is an information technology PAC. This is a PAC formed by Microsoft, called MSPAC, but since it is a corporate sponsored PAC it has many limitations on it for spending and soliciting. A Super PAC, organized by individuals has much less regulations surrounding it. We can call it "Nerds Against Nonsense", or NaN, and work to organize a sustained and directed effort of ensuring the freedoms of the technology age. Sure there are already a lot of technology lobbyists in Washington, but these are bought and paid for by big technology companies. They are looking out for their interests as a company, and not the greater good (though one would hope, but should not assume, that what is good for the comp
Well here's part of your problem. What's a Super PAC? What benefit do I derive, once I join. Oh, and remember, I'm in Canada, too. :)
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra] posting about Crystal Reports here is like discussing gay marriage on a catholic church’s website.[Nishant Sivakumar]
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Well here's part of your problem. What's a Super PAC? What benefit do I derive, once I join. Oh, and remember, I'm in Canada, too. :)
Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra] posting about Crystal Reports here is like discussing gay marriage on a catholic church’s website.[Nishant Sivakumar]
A PAC is a Political Action Committee. Their sole purpose is to solicit and spend funds for the specific purpose of influencing US politics (by either endorsing/contributing to the campaigns of specific people, or causes, or spending money on information campaigns to influence the voting population). There a a few different types of PAC's, and a Super PAC is one that has the least regulation. These are organized by individuals versus a corporate entity. This means that they can solicit unlimited funds from an unlimited number of people (US and globally), and have very loose reporting requirements. The benefit you would get from this is power in numbers (and therefor money, which is how politics really works) to influence US politics for a specific cause. Specifically, causes important to us as information workers. With the (currently) far flung influence and power of the US government, and the location of many tech companies in the US, legislation like SOPA and PIPA would have impacted even the Canadians. Don't think that because you have delicious bacon that the US govt won't try to screw you over. A Super PAC would be there as a proactive measure against policies/legislation/people that would seek to infringe on our freedoms; rather than the reactive measure that we saw for SOPA and PIPA.
Be The Noise
-
Now that things have died down a bit on the SOPA and PIPA front in U.S. politics, I have found the post game analysis online to be very interesting. In particular is a post from Joel Spolsky on G+: link to post on G+[^] In this post, he makes the point that we as an industry are: 1) Very powerful when we want to be. 2) We don't exercise that power often enough. Love it or hate it, involvement in the political process beyond just casting your ballot is required if you don't want your freedom trampled upon. The people in this industry are some of the smartest, most innovative, and most driven people on the planet; yet we can only organize ourselves to make a political change when our freedoms are only moments away from being removed? This seems far too late in the process for me, and quite frankly, I'm surprised that the last ditch effort worked for SOPA and PIPA. We need to be more proactive and push with as much singularity as we can muster to secure our interests as information workers. One idea I've been thinking of is the formation of a Super PAC for this purpose. While SOPA and PIPA have now been put to sleep, they are sure to be awoken soon. Will as many people notice, and be able to react just as quickly the next time? Are you willing to stake your freedom on it? With so much potential power a Super PAC can have behind it, with being able to solicit and spend unlimited funds to push a political agenda, it would seem like a good place to start. In looking at current PAC's, I am actually very surprised to find only 1 that is an information technology PAC. This is a PAC formed by Microsoft, called MSPAC, but since it is a corporate sponsored PAC it has many limitations on it for spending and soliciting. A Super PAC, organized by individuals has much less regulations surrounding it. We can call it "Nerds Against Nonsense", or NaN, and work to organize a sustained and directed effort of ensuring the freedoms of the technology age. Sure there are already a lot of technology lobbyists in Washington, but these are bought and paid for by big technology companies. They are looking out for their interests as a company, and not the greater good (though one would hope, but should not assume, that what is good for the comp