The Worst Coders In Washington

spooky writes "The American Open Technology Consortium, 'a nonprofit organization of technologists who have joined together to educate lawmakers and regulators about technology -- especially in regards to The Internet' has compiled a list of the lawmakers responsible for eight bad internet laws. They say, 'These bad coders and their backers have done more damage to computing, the Internet and freedom than all the virus authors, spammers and crackers combined', Do you agree? Did they miss anyone?"

Comments

They know what they're doing.

[mazarin5]

Unfortunately, it seems that most lawmakers know exactly what they are and have been doing, and that's why they've been so devastatingly effective. Keep in mind, they're policymakers and politicians, and campaign donations are alway welcomed.

Re:thank the GOP for this mess

[EvanED]

Regardless of this being flamebait, he's right, at least if this site is to be believed: only 18 of the 93 people on the list (assuming I counted right; in any case it's a very small portion) are democrats. Furthermore, only two of the 25 worst offenders are democrats. The rest are republicans.

AmeriNet?

[teetam]

The way we try and control the Internet using American laws, may be we should just call it AmeriNet or something like that.

And don't try telling me that other countries try to control it too - for two reasons:

1. Countries like China or even Australia don't shout 'Freedom' from the rooftops the way we do.
2. Other countries are mostly interested only in controlling the internet usage in their country (not that that's a good thing...)

We, on the other hand, want to control what everyone else in the world does with the Internet. We wait for them to come to our shores for some conference and arrest them. And all this, after feeding illegal porn into those other countries.

Our politicians must realize that the Internet is what it is today only because it is globally accessible. Attempting to regulate it on our own is in very bad faith!

Re:What about the good ones?

[schon]

knowing who to support is more effective than knowing who to trash

This is a very salient point, that (happily) some people in power are beginning to understand, but people in the media appear to have a hard time grasping .. On a US TV station, I recently saw a debate between two politicians, and one of the questions posed was "why aren't you smearing your opponent" - the moderator repeatedly pushed this, and seemed not to be able to understand the answers the candidates gave (which boiled down to "I want to win - mud throwing detracts from the issues at hand.)

That being said, can anyone come up with a list of "good guys", besides Rick Boucher and Zoe Lofgren?

Re:Quick Summary

[GigsVT]

0-Libertarian.

Consider yourself informed.

&ltsoapbox&gt
A Libertarian would never pass any law to stifle the Internet, and would never let the government pass protectionist laws for corporate lobbies.
&lt/soapbox&gt

Just a note, John Warner is facing Libertarian Jacob Hornberger in Virginia in tomorrow's elections. John Warner is going to win, no Democrat is running.

This is a good chance to show your support for Libertarians if you are a Democrat, or a Republican, but you agree with what the Libertarians are saying about a lot of things. Your vote will almost definitely not change the outcome of the election, but rather than not voting in the race, why not send the politicians a message that they need to wake up and start listening to the people, or they risk losing to Libertarians.

A 10% Libertarian vote in this election will do just that. So hey, nothing to lose, just do it!