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Rep. Mike Rogers Dismisses CISPA Opponents "14 Year Old Tweeter On the Internet"

Posted by samzenpus on from the foot-in-mouth dept.

gale the simple writes "Mike Rodgers made a minor splash Tuesday when he decided to liken CISPA opponents to 14-year-old basement dwellers. The EFF, naturally, picked up on this generalization and asked everyone to let the representative know that it is not just the 14-year-olds that care about privacy."

29 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Hey... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I resemble that remark!

    1. Re:Hey... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From the mouth of babes, as they say. Something tells me that fourteen year old tweeters such as yourself know infinitely more about how the web works than this Rogers character. Not as if he cares though, right?

      And editors... Fuck it, if you haven't improved after so many mistakes there's just no point in bothering to point them out any more.

  2. EFF link broken by MaxToTheMax · · Score: 4, Informative

    It has an extra lowercase "l" at the end, remove that and it works.

    1. Re:EFF link broken by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 3, Funny

      But CISPA is your PAL, man!

      --
      Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  3. Link to EFF needs fixing by eksith · · Score: 5, Informative

    Should be leading here

    --
    If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.
  4. 50 something by EzInKy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This 50 something year old say FU Mike, and facebook and google too. You are welcome to your big brother future, but leave the rest of us out of it.

    --
    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    1. Re:50 something by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This 50 something year old say FU Mike, and facebook and google too. You are welcome to your big brother future, but leave the rest of us out of it.

      Usually, when a politician backs crap like this (and especially when they say really ignorant things like this guy did), a file all about them shows up at their office filled with data found via legal access.

      I just have to assume that there is some heavy lobbying pressure on this guy from corporate America - corp America is increasingly dependent on Big Data and they are against anything - anything at all - that will limit their precious data. Through in the whole "national security - stopping the next marathon bomber or the next school shooting" and you have a recipe for more intrusions on our privacy.

      It doesn't help that there are millions of US citizens voluntarily giving up their privacy via Facebook.

    2. Re:50 something by EzInKy · · Score: 3, Interesting

      But even the motto of the state he was elected to serve spells it out...."Audemus jura nostra defendere" - We Dare Defend Our Rights, and here he is wanting to surrender everyones to the corporate overlords.

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    3. Re:50 something by chihowa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Statements like yours are why Hamilton was so against the Bill of Rights from the beginning. In no way is the purpose of the Constitution to enumerate the rights of the citizens. It's sad to see that he was right.

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    4. Re:50 something by chihowa · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From Federalist Papers #84:

      I go further, and affirm that bills of rights, in the sense and in the extent in which they are contended for, are not only unnecessary in the proposed constitution, but would even be dangerous. They would contain various exceptions to powers which are not granted; and on this very account, would afford a colorable pretext to claim more than were granted. For why declare that things shall not be done which there is no power to do?

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
    5. Re:50 something by lgw · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's just sad. I can remember when the Republicans really were the party of small government (small in budget, small in intrusiveness, except regarding sex where they lost all sanity), and the Democrats really were the anti-censorship, anti-racism party, and the mainstream of both parties was proud of America. WTF happened in 20 years?

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    6. Re:50 something by c0lo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No one is attacking your rights. Just your privacy. I know people don't like to hear it but their is no Constitutional right to privacy. What privacy you do have is by statute.

      Keep this in mind - in a democracy, anything that is not subject to a law to say otherwise:
      1. it is allowed for the citizens
      2. it is forbidden for the state/government.

      So spare me with the "Constitution doesn't grant you this right" or cease pretending US is a democracy.

      (I'll be counting the replies recycling the "by Constitution, US is a republic, not a democracy". I do hope I'll have none to count).

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    7. Re:50 something by alannon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Democracy and rights are not necessarily hand in hand. The only right a democratic society needs to have is to have fair voting for laws and/or a government. Democratic societies knowingly can and often DO vote away their own rights, all the time. Democratic does not mean free or just.

  5. Who do you trust more? by davydagger · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who do you trust more, really?

    Teens in their basement, or slimebag politicians in washington?

    At least we know teenagers in their basements aren't taking money from special corporate intrests trying to fuck us all over.

    1. Re:Who do you trust more? by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the basement teen in almost all instances.

      The teen in the basement knows more about real life than the Congressional idiot that will only take meeting with people who will contribute to his/her campaign.

    2. Re:Who do you trust more? by DragonTHC · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I find it humorous that the politician can't even insult us properly.

      It's either 14 year olds, OR dudes living in their parent's basement.

      Nonetheless, privacy is important to me because I'm in a better position to protect my children online as they begin to use the Internet more and more.

      --
      They're using their grammar skills there.
  6. Look at it the other way by Cali+Thalen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    My first thought was...after sitting down and discussing it with his 14 year old nephew, it must all have gone over Rodgers' head, and he didn't learn anything. Hey, next time let the kid write the legislation, leave it to the experts.

    --
    Chaos, panic, disorder...my work here is done.
  7. Rogers Whines Like a 14 Year Old by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Honestly, 14 year olds tend not to be remotely aware of the evils of bills like CISPA. In my experience it's the best and brightest segment of society that's united against this nonsense. On the other hand, 14 year olds are quite familiar with answering criticism with a false ad hominem attack.

    --
    "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
    1. Re:Rogers Whines Like a 14 Year Old by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Watch the video. His 14 year old nephew was obviously very aware of the dangers of the bill, even tried talking sense into him.

      It's kinda ironic. A 14 year old understand more about privacy and the ramifications of a bill than an elected politician. What's even more ironic is that said politician is the one that tells us about it.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  8. Time for a Super PAC by tokencode · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you want congressmen to take your opinion seriously, you need to speak in the only language they understand... votes. Someone needs to start a crowd-funded super PAC that specifically targets politically vulnerable candidates who opposed privacy. Start running negative ads in their home districts and you may see a change, but last I checked no one in Washington gives a crap about what is posted on /.

    1. Re:Time for a Super PAC by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They don't, but chops to you for heading towards a "managed" situation in politics.

      It's a weird line they are following - on one hand if they bomb the masses with enough ads, they get their votes. In another way, they have got to be deathly afraid if the masses actually start coordinating votes. I could go on for 3,000 words but I'll stay short in this post. The basic point is, for the first time ever, Social Media can Coordinate votes to counter the advantage politicians have had of close access in the Capitol for a hundred years. Right now there's no platform for it. But so help us when there is, this grand Pres cycle will be a WHOLE NEW game.

      --
      My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  9. 14 year olds care about privacy? by Areyoukiddingme · · Score: 4, Insightful

    14 year olds care about privacy? Really? REALLY? Hello, there's a website we'd like to introduce you to Mr. Congresscritter. It's called Facebook. You should find out what happens there sometime.

    Is it just me or has the rate of public officials mouthing off like children increased? Don't these people have any dignity anymore? (That last is a rhetorical question...)

  10. Typical... by Kittenman · · Score: 4, Funny

    Republicans doing sweeping generalizations...

    They always do that sort of thing

    pause....

    --
    "The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
  11. Stereotypes and Vacuums by Millennium · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unfortunately, the man has something of a point. There are a lot of 14-year-old basement dwellers in the anti-CISPA crowd, and a lot of people who just want to get their entertainment without paying for it. In short, a significant number of the people who oppose CISPA are doing it for the wrong reasons. CISPA is wrong, but so are they.

    Those of us who care about the real issues might do well to disassociate ourselves from the creepers and the pirates. Even they need protection, but let's not kid ourselves, that's more a matter of logistics than principle: protection is meaningless if it doesn't protect everyone, and so they get a pass in order to make it work at all. Their voices in this debate only harm the side they fight for. But this presents a problem: how the heck would a community like this disassociate itself from its less savory members?

  12. Obama has threatened to veto it by GrumpySteen · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm fairly sure the President of the USA is not a 14 year old tweeter.

  13. Don't play their game! by s.petry · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you have not yet figured it out, there is no line between Democrat and Republican any longer. They are all on the same team, and hint: it is not your team. Keep thinking they differ and the same will continue. They want us bickering over rep. Vs dem. and black vs white, and atheist vs religious , or anything else that keeps you from watching what they are doing.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    1. Re:Don't play their game! by Scared+Rabbit · · Score: 3, Informative

      *WOOSH*

  14. Re:Last link is broken by bondsbw · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think the summary needs to clarify: this is Michigan representative Mike Rogers, not Alabama representative Mike Rogers.

    --
    All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
  15. How Republicans Think by Required+Snark · · Score: 3, Informative
    Rodgers is far from the only Republican who thinks that citizens should shut up and do as they are told.

    http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/04/17/bonus_quote_of_the_day.html

    "I am the senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet."

    -- North Carolina State Senator Tommy Tucker (R), quoted by the Raleigh News and Observer, to Goldsboro News-Argus publisher Hal Tanner who was opposing legislation to change public notice requirements for local government.

    --
    Why is Snark Required?