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Domain: aarp.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to aarp.org.

Comments · 55

  1. List of State Do-Not-Call Lists by mashie · · Score: 1 · on FTC Moves Forward With National Do-Not-Call List

    The AARP has done a nice little summary of state do-not-call lists.

  2. Phone number for Hotel Pennsylvania by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on H2K2 Wrapup

    PEnnsylvania 6-5000 - no kidding

  3. Target your rant by PDHoss · · Score: 5, Insightful · on MPAA to Senate: Plug the Analog Hole!

    My freedom, blah, blah, blah... out of touch legislators blah blah blah. Wanna even a chance to be heard?

    1. Fill out this form. Really. Don't just read the comments, and don't just post here. Take a minute and write a thoughtful, well argued comment. Senators don't give a damn what people on Slashdot are saying, but they'll give a damn if it's on their own fancy website.

    2. Vote with your vote. Get the hell out there and support candidates that see through all of this crap. As a community, we rant and rave that the whole system is munged then turn around and skip the vote en masse. Ever wonder why no one wants to mess with Social Security? Talk to this very consistent voting group. Senators listen to votes, not money. They only listen to money because it helps them buy more votes. Don't vote? Don't complain.

    3. Vote with your dollar. If you rant, then continue to support these businesses, you have no one to blame but yourself. Just as politicians only respond to votes, most businesses only respond to money.

    It's got to be more than talk, guys. If we don't start backing any of this up, we'll just be the cranky tech curmudgeons who desperately hang on to the antiquated notion of "freedom."

  4. I dont see any problem with this by thogard · · Score: 1 · on MPAA to Senate: Plug the Analog Hole!

    We just force anyone who makes ADC to put a bit more cpu power in them (ok that will require adding a cpu core and memory and the rest of the stuff to make a dsp but we can ignore that for now)

    That should only drive the price for a 16 bit a/d convert up about 800% but its such a small part of modern electronics it won't matter to the consumer.

    I hope there is an exclusion for A/D converters for hearing aids or else these voters might get just a bit upset.

  5. Another Slashdot effect: thinking we're mainstream by dave_aiello · · Score: 2 · on Do Geeks Have a Political Voice?
    The Slashdot effect that always surprises me is the tendency by some in this community to think that all of the issues that matter to us have become part of the mainstream political debate. I don't know what the demographics of voters are in other countries, but in the United States, technical communities like ours are not on the political RADAR screen at all.

    It's only within the last four years that the traditional technology community (hardware manufacturers, networking companies, mega-ISPs, and proprietary software companies) have achieved political influence. The best indication of this is the Microsoft Anti-Trust Case. This was only brought to a head by years and millions of dollars spent on lobbying in Washington.

    Real political influence (in the United States) comes from corporations spending money to promote their issues. This is how the DMCA and UCITA became law. If you want to have that kind of influence, here's what to do:

    • Start a political action committee.
    • Get the Linux-oriented companies that have gone public to join and contribute millions to the effort.
    • Start lobbying for repeal of the laws you don't like and/or lawsuits which would result in these laws being declared unconstitutional.
    If you don't like this, because it concentrates power in the hands of capitalists, that's tough. The only alternative is to build a grassroots organization like the AARP, the NRA, or the National Federation of Independent Businesses. I bet when you read about what these organizations do, a lot of you will be equally opposed to turning ourselves into an organization like them.

    I'm only saying this because a lot of people think we are close to achieving political influence through the EFF, or through some sort of effort that brings a bunch of individuals together around a single issue. In my opinion, we aren't close to having real political influence, at least in the United States.
    --

    Dave Aiello