GeekPAC

SgtXaos writes "The newly created American Open Technology Consortium has posted a draft of their position statement online. They propose to change that by forming a real lobbying force to educate and influence congress about issues near and dear to all of us geeks. Here's a chance to put money where our uh, er, typing is." Newsforge (also part of OSDN) has a story and interview with the founders.

Comments

proposal of a draft of a framework?

[ghostlibrary]

So there's a proposal of a draft to consider a position statement about creating a framework for moving towards forming a possible entity. Wow! They have the political process down pat! Lots of action words and nothing real yet!

Seriously, it is a good thing, I just love these early, tentative stages. I'll likely pledge. I do think taking 'geekpac' as a contact name will be negative PR, even though "reclaiming geekhood" is trendy now.

Not bad.

[llamalicious]

Gotta applaud this for spirit though, we have to have someone on our side that can build up some clout.
But it's still one more four-letter acronym, and another pile of legislative paper to file. May the gods have mercy on their souls.

My favorite statement:

Once access is solidified into the hands of a very few companies, the "bottom up" content flow model of the Internet will be put in lethal jeopardy. This small group of companies that will control the access, will also be able to control the flow of content TYPE. The Internet as we know it will cease to exist. The absurd notion that the 4 major phone companies need protection FROM the ISP business community is laughable. Near 10,000 businesses may be legislated out of existence in favor of FOUR companies. This bill is so fundamentally anti-business, anti-entrepreneur and anti-American; it is SHOCKING that it was passed by Republicans, a traditionally Pro-business party.

Shocking? Methinks not. The Republican party may be "traditionally" pro-business. But each individual representative is simply pro-money-in-my-pocket.

fracturing effort?

[rknop]

I'm sure there is a good reason-- but I don't see it at the moment, so I'm hoping somebody will enlighten me. Why is trying to get people to put money and energy behind this a better idea than helping to promote the existing organizations working towards similar goas, such as the EFF? My fear is that this effort will dilute some of the broadbased support for the EFF, and instead of one organization which we can hope will become marginally strong enough to perhaps do something, we're going to have two organizations that look really good but aren't nearly beefy enough to compete with the current special interests purchasing legislators.

-Rob

Good idea but not likely to be effective

[zeugma-amp]

This is a god idea in theory, but unless a lot more than $100,000 can be raised, it won't be able to do much of anything. In the article, it mentioned possibly hiring proffesionals to lobby for the effort in the future. I'm sure the organizers realize that retaining someone with any kind of pull (of the type noted by Rand) will take most if not all of the sums they are talking about. It costs a lot of money to play the game in the D.C. (District of Criminals).

That said, it probably wouldn't hurt to try to get some folks to make the geek POV heard at least a little bit. The effort will need a more serious-sounding name though. While GeekPac sounds good in a whimsical sort of way, I don't think it would help to get our foot in the doors that are necessary.

I'll probably donate to this effort once they get to the point of actually taking donations, but I won't have much hope for it at this time. Judging from the article, it sounds like this is somewhat affiliated with EFF. I would think that this effort could undermine other work the EFF is doing. I could be wrong on that I suppose.

One thing we definitely need as people who are interested in freedom of all kinds, is a way to counter the power of Disney, Time/Warner, and the other providers of crappy content that spend more money on coffee a month than this effort is looking at raising in a year.

"freedom to innovate"

[kryzx]

I don't know what is scarier, the fact that they used the phrase "freedom to innovate", or the fact that a certain corporation has so corrupted that phrase that it makes me cringe and sets off warning alarms.

This sounds like a good idea. We must play the game the way it's laid out, and that means forming PACs, funding them, and educating/greasing the right politicos to get what we want. I hope they succeed.

Is it surprising that it's needed ?

[valen]

One of the things that Europeans love to feel smug about is the way that bribery is so indemic in US culture, that they have a special term for "political bribery" - lobbying.

In most European countries, it's illegal to give politicians money in exchange for support for laws. Damn right. Otherwise, you get what happens in the US - rich companies get to make the laws everyone else stands by.

A PAC

[quam]

Perhaps I am thinking inside a box, but based on my experience with campaigns and as an aide for three years to a politican, success in changing law(s) requires an organization with the following characteristics:

• Broad Mission: Create an organization appealing to many. For instance, an organization with the goal to protect encryption is narrow. "Online civil liberties" also seems narrow to me. It doesn't seem DMCA would apply with that type of organization. However, an organization with the goal to advance "technology and civil liberties" is broad.
• Local/State/National Structure: A national headquarters and a headquarters for each state with local chapters is established. Individuals wishing to join the organization must pay a due. Dues are distributed between the local, state and national organizations. Local chapters are strongly encouraged to conduct fundraisers (i.e.: btw, when I was at Krispy Kreme this weekend, I noticed organizations can sell doughnuts and keep up to 40% of the proceeds).
• Local Chapters Defined By Political Boundaries With an 'Advisor': Each local chapter is generally divided along a congressional district line. This division depends on the methods used to create political boundaries within a state, but usually this type of organization allows for easy communication with elected officials. Congressman X who represents foo district within the city of foo knows all of local chapter foo is a constituent to him/her. Moreover, all activities of local chapter foo are able to influence effectively; no time is wasted on a communication or action intended to influence an elected official who doesn't give a damn because the communique or action does not originate from within his/her district. A local chapter becomes attuned with the activities of its elected officials. For instance, a chapter may have all of its members attend an elected official's town meeting.
• Elections of Organization Leaders: The local chapter advisor or chairperson is elected by that chapter's members. A state chairperson is elected by all members of that state. The national chairperson is elected by all members throughout the nation.
• Government Liaisons: Either (1) The local chairperson is the chief spokesperson in matters of that chairperson's respective district (this depends on how the chapter lines are drawn up --- generally the chairperson would be attached to the local congressman/woman), the state chairperson is the chief spokesperson in the respective state legislative matters, and the national chairperson is the chief spokesperson at the federal level; or (2) Each state and/or the national office has a lobbyist who is either selected via election of the members or is selected by the chairperson. Generally a government liaison receives some form of compensation.
  Sidenote: the most ineffective lobbyists imo are those with little work experience and a heavy educational background (PhD); the most effective lobbyists are those with previous work experience in the system as an elected official or aide.
• Avoid Alignment with a Particular Political Party: Political tides may change quickly and those aligned with the losing side will likely be left out.
• Acts for Legislative Change: Generally, the government liaison should be skilled to understand what methods are appropriate. These methods may include (1) tailor a common message or goal for each government officials, (2) communicating with each elected official the number of association members who are constituents, (3) during session go door-to-door to the offices of those officials of significance (i.e.: if the bill is in committee, visit only those on the committee (or, at times, someone who has influence on the committee) and visit members who do not have a position on the issue, may be swayed or may sway others), (4) develop rapport (speak/eat with staff, have lunch with the official (this does not require paying for the official's food), drop off gifts (i.e.: if the member likes grapefruits, bring by a basket of grapefruit) at the end of session, or (5) request letter campaigns from a specific local/state chapter(s) to a specified official and provide a model letter.

Again, this information is just an overview of what I learned over several years and observing various political organizations. I am sure not all of the above information is accurate given different political environments or circumstances. Also, there is obviously more information required to fully explain how a political organization may be effective and it is not included here.

Re:One possible strategy.

[Anonymous Coward]

If you don't think we're behind you might want to look at some Japanese cell phones http://www.nokia.co.jp or some of those incredibly fuel efficient cars from Europe. I don't have a link for those, but just a normal Fiat is more fuel efficient than an SUV. Gas prices go down! Especially a good idea now with our middle east action.

There was recently a push by some Democrats in the Senate to mandate that by 2016, I believe, the minimum fuel economy of a company's fleet must be at least 36 MPG.

The proposal died because "soccer moms won't feel safe in a car that gets 36 mpg," a reference to the super-scaled-down design of super-efficient cars. It is this mentality -- not to mention the unending faith in the US Auto companies -- that caused the Republicans to force an uber-lame version of the bill, which simply says "in the future, make cars better than they are now" without setting any specific fuel economy ratings. With reps like these, who needs terrorists?

http://www.aceee.org/press/0203cafe.htm has a bit of info, CNN probably does too.

Re:Too bad...

[Golias]

Fortunately, down here in the US, the very first amendment to our constitution addresses this sort of thing, so most people who have been following this believe that the Supreme Court will strike down most of the current reforms as unconstitutional.

Congress actually had the balls to pass a law which says you can not buy a newspaper ad or tv spot to criticize a sitting congressman during the two months before an election, without it counting as part of the limited campaign budget of his opponent. If your representative or senator voted for this, remember that in the next election.

One work-around that occurred to me is to choose a third-party or no-party candidate who is nowhere near winning and nowhere near the spending cap, and then claim to be supporting them. That way, you could run a half-hour infomercial slamming Paul Welstone, end the commercial with "paid for by friends of Joe Blow, an independant candidate for Minnesota Senator," and none of it would count against his leading opponent's campaign, even that's who would benifit most. Hmmm....