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Lessig For Congress?
luge writes "With the unfortunate passing of Congressman Tom Lantos, parts of Silicon Valley and San Francisco will be holding a special election in June to send a replacement to Congress. Given the area, it would be great to have someone who is both tech- and policy-aware fill the seat — and it looks like that just might happen. Lawrence Lessig has apparently bought 'change-congress.com.' A 'Draft Lessig' group is forming on Facebook, featuring some of Lessig's old co-workers at Harvard and Jimmy Wales, among others. No word from Lessig himself yet, but he's been increasingly vocal about politics of late. If it happens, it would be a huge step forward for the representation of technology in Washington."
IIRC, Lessig recently made anti-corruption be his struggle, rather than restoring copyright to something reasonable. On which goal(s) would he focus? I think legislators are often forced to sacrifice one ideal for another during the legislative process.
and board member at EFF apparently.
I'd never heard of him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig
That was over 10 years ago. What makes you think that he didn't learn form that?
I'm leaning toward Obama a bit for President. This is mostly because when he drafted his tech policy, instead of talking to some exec at AT&T, he talked to Lessig[1]. I find this admirable.
In the potential future where Lessig runs and wins, and Obama wins, we'd have two more Slashdot Moral Values-friendly politicians in office. Of course, there's already people like Dick Boucher of Virginia.
[1] Of course, who knows how committed Obama is to his tech platform, and/or how much he'd have to compromise to appease the Congresscritters who've been bought by the telecom and copyright cartels.
I doubt he'd be electable in a state which contains a large percentage (if not the largest) of content providers.
Perhaps not in the Senate, but this is the House, and he's a Bay Area resident. We have a few little companies here that are full of employees who feel pretty strongly about rational technology law; you know, Google, Apple, Yahoo, and about seventy-three thousand startups. House elections are local.
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FEC.gov shows he donated the maximum allowance to Barack Obama's campaign. Just FYI :) .
Let me preface this comment by saying I am not an American, but an observer of American politics and culture. It is a sad testament to the strength of anti-intellectualist tendencies in American culture that American politicians tend to have little academic expertise on the issues pertaining to the policies they espouse (e.g. Ted Stevens' "internet = series of tubes"). The benefit provided by academic expertise is not simply the number of degrees one acquires, but dialogical engagement with other experts who dedicate themselves to finding fault in arguments (via journals, conferences, etc). Thus, the arguments presented by an academic to the general public may well be bastardized (because simplified) versions of the arguments they would present within academia, but we (the public) can assure ourselves that those arguments could be elucidated in ways that stand up to some level of harsh criticism. To put one's faith in the honesty of a politician whose views and arguments arose in an academic setting, then, is a better bet than putting one's faith in the honesty of a politician who may only be concerned with rhetorically covering up his/her true influences (e.g. pressure by lobbyists or campaign contributions). Lessig for congress is, in my eyes, a good move regardless of how much/little I may agree with him politically. This is simply because the development of his views and arguments is well documented in his books and articles, and with reference to an academic context which is accessible to anyone interested in putting the time into investigating it. As I see it, this would be a move towards transparency in government, which is a prerequisite for true democracy.
Trust me, kids; don't drink and post.
He doesn't need to be elected by the whole state, just his district. That particular district covers a big chunk of Silicon Valley, which may be the one place a candidate like that actually could get elected.
I'd rather vote for a guy that stood up for what I believe in and failed rather than someone who stood up for something I'm against and succeeded.
Google and Yahoo, perhaps, but methinks that Steve Jobs' position at Disney could be a real influence on Apple.
So then what happens when the rest of the state, or the nation for that matter, votes against what he votes for? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Congress has a significant amount of bad apples.
I didn't say he would be effective in Congress, just that he could get elected to Congress. One person championing Creative Commons in a room of 434 other people in the pocket of the industry lobbyists probably won't have much effect at all unless he can build up enough seniority to get on (and chair) the right committees.
Have you seen some of ESR's antics? Kudos to him for co-founding the OSI, but he's not the kind of person I'd like to see representing my district (assuming I lived in Silicon Valley of course).
He would make an excellent Congressman and technology advocate. Personally, I think Lawrence Lessig would make for the right template to choose Congressmen. That is, they both have general competence and area-specific knowledge. Rather than the old method of electing political cronies or party insiders or business schmucks or mercenary, power-hungry lawyers, we could elect men and women who are strong contributors to our civic life and also experts in their particular field.
For instance, I would feel much better about food safety legislation designed by a Congresswoman who was an actual FDA scientist. Then I could be reasonably sure that facts played a large role in her decisions.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Lessig, assuming he runs and is elected as a Democrat, would provide a massive counterweight to the Republican's Adam Putnam (R-FL) on technology issues, not to mention any other current Reps living off the largesse of the intellectual propery community (RIAA, MPAA, Business Software Alliance, etc.).
I hope he runs. We need more legislators with practical life experiences who are not only experts in particular disciplines, but know enough about legal or scientific methods to form intelligent opinion based on facts on other subjects instead of voting the way the polls or campaign contributors tell them to.
TLR
A man no more knows his destiny than a tea leaf knows the history of the East India Company
I'd say elect Bill Gates.
Just coming up with bribes large enough to get his attention would bankrupt
the RIAA, MPAA, and similar mob enterprises.
Google and Yahoo, perhaps, but methinks that Steve Jobs' position at Disney could be a real influence on Apple.
:)
Haha - well noted. I actually originally composed my post to say "companies that feel strongly about rational technology law." Then realized the mistake and changed it to employees.
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That's some good thinking there, tiger. Let's not vote for the guy who tried to change US copyright law on a shoe-string budget against the wishes of the biggest and richest corporations in America. Is it at least possible that the things he learned going through that could help him to be succesful next time? Or do you win all your SCOTUS cases first time? What's that? You've never fought a case against corruption at the level of the supreme court? You've never even fought any court cases against corruption?
I don't mean to sound like a fanboy, but Lessig has proven that he's willing to fight for the things I (and likely you, this being Slashdot and all) actually care about, and you slag him because he didn't win his supreme court case! Unbelievable.
.there is enough of everything for everyone.
I don't live in his district, but I sent a check to Diebold and they said they registered my vote.
A large part of the problem with corruption is the red tape that the corrupt can hide behind. What we need is a sort of "root" user for one or two agencies that can essentially violate any law or policy inside the government, short of the constitution itself, to root out corruption. I'd suggest greatly expanding the size and scope of the Offices of the Inspector General, such that when an IG agent steps foot inside of a federal agency, they are more terrifying that Tomas De Torquemada to those with something to hide.
When the agents of the IG get probable cause to investigate, I'd suggest that they have the following police powers internal to the federal government, that go well above and beyond anything regular police can do:
1) An IG agent, in their federal department, has automatic root access to all compartmentalized information.
2) No federal employee can refuse to speak with an IG agent. Refusal to do so is grounds to be blacklisted from ever working for the federal government or on a government contract.
3) Each director of an Inspector General's office is appointed for at least 3 presidential elections, and cannot be removed except by impeachment.
4) The IG is in no way legally accountable to the President, and can willfully disobey even legal orders from the President.
5) Refusal to give an IG agent satisfactory answers to any question is automatic criminal guilt of obstruction of justice.
Lets face it. He'd fit in a lot better in the Judicial Branch...
Badass Resumes
Palo Alto (and Stanford) are in California's 14th District, and Lantos is from the 12th District, representing the area from San Mateo, and Redwood City north to South San Francisco, Daly City, and the southwestern portion of San Francisco. I don't think he's eligible to represent the 12th district without moving. So this would be no small matter for him to undertake.
That said, I would fully support Lessig for congress. Hopefully he can bring some knowledge and sanity to important committees.
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
I doubt he'd be electable in a state which contains a large percentage (if not the largest) of content providers.
I disagree. He is strongly anti-piracy, and has the support of major content providers with his Creative Commons initiative. The copyright reforms he seeks to implement are geared mainly towards removing the legal barrier towards creating fair-use derivative works of content and facilitating amateur content creation. This may not be a savory notion for the big studios, but it is not a life-or-death burden on their business models, either.
I think L Lessig can have more impact from outside Congress, and concentrate on issues he cares about (copyright before, corruption now), rather than waste his time politicking about in Congress on issues he doesn't care about.
Sure, maybe he could have a little more impact working from the inside, but I'm cynically afraid that he'd soon be disgusted and burnt out against the rot in there.
Misleading titles? Inflammatory blurbs? Keep in mind that Slashdot is a tabloid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldred_v._Ashcroft
Umm, no. That was 2002. Not even close to ten years ago.
But I agree, kind of a ridiculous criticism. Hindsight is 20/20, and all that.
If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
... on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property on account of this unfortunate event. See this article. Getting him off and getting Lessing on this committee, even as a junior Congressman could have a huge effect in getting good legislation to the floor of Congress that is currently blocked.
Lessig has no chance in Lantos' district. He would not be the Democratic nominee, that would most likely be Jackie Speier, and she is a lock to win the seat. She will win by at least 60%.
Lessig will have a better chance if he tries for Anna Eshoo's seat when she retires, but he would have a lot of work to do to win a Democratic nomination out of the blue. In this area, there is a very active and strong Democratic party infrastructure and the path to that seat is usually via the state assembly/senate or San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
If Lessig really wants in to congress, he should run for local office first.
Congratulations. You've invented a new power broker! How long do you think it would take for the position to get politicized? Think about it. You would could ask anyone anything and they have to answer. You could gain access to political plans. Leak info at inconvenient times. Get phone records for calls to non-spouses. Make it look like someone isn't being completely honest and you've effectively kicked them out of federal government and politics. Not that any of this is bad because no-one should have anything to hide. And of course we can count on the IG not to be corrupt. It's just everyone else in Washington who is corrupt. Boy, I bet McCarthy would have loved this job.
Nobody expects the OFFICES OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL! Our chief weapon is root access. Root access and non-possibility of non-cooperation... Our TWO chief weapons are root access, non-possibility of non-cooperation, and 12-year terms THREE! Our three main weapons are root access, non-possibility of non-cooperation, 12-year terms, and no accountability... Our four... Among our chief weaponry are such diverse elements as root access, non-possibility of non-cooperation, 12-year terms, no accountability to the executive, and automatic criminal guilt of obstruction.. of.. justice... I'll come in again.
SIGSEGV caught, terminating
wait... not that kind of sig.
And I'm not even being pedantic here. The 12th district is on the northern part of the peninsula.
:)
Congressman Mike Honda is the representative for most of "Silicon Valley" which includes San Jose, Santa Clara, and Cupertino -- the 15th District.
Now, if you want to cover Google and Stanford, then that's the 14th District -- which includes Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Redwood City -- and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo is very much alive.
Silicon Valley is well represented already.