Questions for Town Meeting with Congressman?

tongue asks: "I have the opportunity tomorrow to go to a town meeting with my Congressman, Gene Taylor (D, Miss.). I'd like to be able to ask several (preferably intelligent) questions regarding issues facing the technology industry today, on bills like the DMCA, SSSCA, etc; but I'm having trouble narrowing down the field. The research I've been able to do so far indicates a fairly conservative voting record, although I haven't had much luck finding a good site that summarizes a bill-by-bill voting record along with a synopsis of the bill." We did a similar question, last month about the CBDTPA which dovetails nicely with this issue. What questions about these and other questionable electronic laws passed over the last few years, would you like tongue to ask Senator Taylor?

Comments

General mood of the questions

[jonman_d]

I had a chance to "shadow" ( read, "follow around" ) a senator for NYS a few months ago. Basically, my advice to you is: be very specific with your questions. Do this for two reasons: it assists with their answer, and if a question is broad, they won't answer it. From what I gather, politicians don't like to say anything broad, unless they're trying to get out of a sticky situation. So give a specific question, and demand a specific answer.

Also, don't insult the man. Believe it or not (don't listen to most Slashdot readers ;) he does have a tough job. Even if he is as currupt as Swiss Cheese, show him some respect. He deserves it.

And lastly, if he does refuse to answer a question, find out why. If he's got a good reason, move on - don't try and punch the heck out of him, or he won't be forthcoming in the future. If he constantly refuses to answer questions, however, politely show your displeasure and remind him that he works for you.

Hope that helps - good luck!

ACLU Voting Record

[Peridriga]

Voting record of Mr. Taylor on ACLU issues

ACLU's Voting Record

No stance on technology

[Target Drone]

Issues 2001 has a overview of Gene Taylor's stance on various issues. Interestingly he doesn't seem to have any stance on technology issues although most of the other senators do.

I think this likely means the senator is not the most technically savvy senator (not that any of them are) and he may not even be aware of a lot of the current IP issues. You might want to try asking the senator a simpler question(s) to show him that his constituents are concerned about IP issues. If you ask him a difficult question he (and the rest of the audience) won't understand it and he'll just side step it.

I've questioned a Senator before

[globaljustin]

When I was an intern in a Congressman's office, I was able to attend a number of informal, off-the-record talks between senators, congressman, and interns (and only interns!)

At the end of the talk, we were allowed to ask questions on any topic, and I got to see first hand what questions work and what questions fail.

Your question needs to be pointed, but not too specific because believe it or not, a congressman votes on alot of bills everyday, and he doesn't have time to read all of them in depth, that's why he has a staff.

So a question like "line 2 paragraph 8 of the DMCA says this, but...." won't cut it, he won't know what the hell you're talking about. But if you are too broad, he will just ramble on about nothing for 2 minutes and then move on to another question.

The best thing for you to do is present one or two simple and well-documented problems/weaknesses with the DCMA, and then ask him how he thinks the problems could be solved.

And, damn, this is the most important of all...don't buy into the media's portrayal of all government officials being corrupt...give the man the benefit of the doubt and give him the respect he deserves