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Lawmakers Game The System
Thanks to Wired News for its article discussing government officials and massively multiplayer game designers sharing ideas on the best ways to deal with community feedback. Neil Eisner of the Department Of Transportation explains: "We're both dealing with large populations, and (like with the public-comment process for legislation) the public helps them design the rules for the game, or petitions them to change the rules to have things happen." Raph Koster of Sony Online adds that it "was startling to me... that (the federal comment process) is identical to how we build our patches and patch notes", although since the government has "a legal obligation to protect the privacy of people submitting comments on legislation", this means some disadvantages compared to MMO feedback, as Koster explains: "We get to know the people who are good testers, who are good at catching bugs. The federal government is legally not allowed to do that."
Off topic as well, but:
I don't think Big Tobacco really fits the role here. They are in defensive mode now. We have managed to strip them of most of the benefits of a capitalist system and still manage to vilify them.
Big Tobacco is in the defensive now, but historically, they have been very powerful. Lots of money, lots of jobs at stake, and ruthlessly unethical management made for very effective lobbyists and influencers of legislation/policy.
It took decades of solid science, credible whistleblowers, and a powerful lobby of people dying of lung cancer to take them down. Truth and justice won out, but how many millions have died....
I don't think what we really need is perfection in a system of "tyranny by the majority". I don't care how many people want something, government should make decisions based on RIGHT and WRONG.
What we really need is a realtime feedback system to punish politicians and bureaucrats for flouting the Constitution.