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Bernie’s Army of Coders

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Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#51

Post by rbanffy »

ck2 wrote: post #4

Before we start admiring things, let's see what happens on Super Tuesday (12 days away). Nothing of what Sanders is doing is going to survive past a left primary. Absolutely nothing he is promising can be done without Congress. ------------ reply to below since I can only answer two replies on HN anymore before being blocked: Wrong comparison. That's like wanting to be manager when you have only worked at a company f…

> If Sanders ideas can work so well,

They do. Look across the Atlantic.

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#52

Post by fiatmoney »

SilasX wrote: post #2

Interesting! This part got me thinking though: >And last summer a map compiling all the Sanders campaign happenings across the country, built by volunteer Rapi Castillo, a Philippine immigrant living in Queens who isn’t an American citizen and can’t vote this November, became the official “eventslink on Sanders’ website. So a foreigner is effectively giving an in-kind campaign contribution to a candidate? How come pe…

A lot of people actually do have a problem with non-citizens attempting to influence US elections.

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#53

Post by bmelton »

specialist wrote: post #33
bmelton wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree 1) that they are, and 2) that they oughtn't be allowed to be for what you're intending. On 1) They aren't persons, but do have a limited degree of personhood. Among other things, that personhood is what allows us to sue them and such. On 2) I don't have a problem with it. If companies have to abide the law, then I can't imagine how it would be that they shouldn't have input into its making. I agree that co…

personally suggest that limiting the scope of influence available to lawmakers What are you suggesting here? Increased direct democracy? Less lobbying, presumably thru regulation, thereby curtailing speech?

I have first-hand experience dealing with Michael Chertoff. You may not know the name, but he's been a SCOTUS clerk, federal prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney General, NSA Director, and Secretary of Homeland Security.

He was also chairman of BAE systems, The Chertoff Group, and other defense-oriented businesses. BAE is D.C.'s 8th largest contractor.

Chertoff was instrumental in mandating the FAA's adoption of body scanners for security in his capacity as a public official.

As a private citizen, The Chertoff Group represents lobbying efforts for security product companies and manufacturers.

Airports may or may not need body scanners. I think that the general HN audience is more familiar with Schneier's work enough to know of the 'security theater' that they represent, but even allowing for the possibility that they actually do some good, it seems absolutely absurd to me that the director of the NSA or the Secretary of Homeland Security has the power to mandate their purchase and installation with one hand, while selling them to the government with the other.

Assuredly this is neither the most or least egregious example of federal corruption, but I think it's the most illustrative. To me, the federal government has only the powers enumerated in the constitution. Mandating security devices isn't one of those powers, but the federal government has claimed it in its purview.

I don't necessarily have a problem with the federal government trying to keep us safe, if that's what they're doing, and I certainly don't mean to besmirch Chertoff as the archetype of corruption -- he may very well have the best possible intent... but at the same time, it would be silly of me, as president, to insist that only the software company I owned could possibly manufacture secure-enough solutions for the government and mandate their usage as vendor.

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#54

Post by rbanffy »

rapicastillo wrote: post #34
SilasX wrote: post #2

Interesting! This part got me thinking though: >And last summer a map compiling all the Sanders campaign happenings across the country, built by volunteer Rapi Castillo, a Philippine immigrant living in Queens who isn’t an American citizen and can’t vote this November, became the official “eventslink on Sanders’ website. So a foreigner is effectively giving an in-kind campaign contribution to a candidate? How come pe…

Hi! I'm the immigrant in the story. For what it's worth I'm permanent resident, not allowed to vote. Furthermore, it's seen as an in-kind contribution, just like when you help building a stage for the campaign, only in online-terms. It's explained more in http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/04/us/politics/bernie-sanders...

I wonder if, as someone who sympathizes with the Sanders campaign, a foreign citizen who is not a US resident, could legally get involved in this.

I would, most definitely, not want to create any legal problems to the campaign.

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#55

Post by monocasa »

bmelton wrote: post #26
monocasa wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The big issue I see with your argument is that volunteer work isn't nearly as scalable as large amounts of money in terms of contributions from an individual. There's a difference between writing an app in your spare time, and running $100M of advertisements.

It gets harder to measure, but on the argument of scalability, that varies dramatically. If I wrote an app that was as popular as GMail, it's very possibly much more impactful than a $100M worth of advertisements.

Can you point to an app that swung an election more than $100M worth of advertisements? Like, I know this is hacker news, home of "there's no limit to what you can achieve with hard work and VC money!", but if we're being honest with ourselves could even a single unicorn class app company swing a presidential election if it put it's mind to it?

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#56

Post by anon987 »

So far: 51 comments and so far zero comments about the technical aspects of this article - only political bickering.

Yet another thinly veiled political story that somehow make it to the front page because it has the word "coders" in the title.

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#57

Post by monocasa »

bmelton wrote: post #53
specialist wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

personally suggest that limiting the scope of influence available to lawmakers What are you suggesting here? Increased direct democracy? Less lobbying, presumably thru regulation, thereby curtailing speech?

I have first-hand experience dealing with Michael Chertoff. You may not know the name, but he's been a SCOTUS clerk, federal prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney General, NSA Director, and Secretary of Homeland Security. He was also chairman of BAE systems, The Chertoff Group, and other defense-oriented businesses. BAE is D.C.'s 8th largest contractor. Chertoff was instrumental in mandating the FAA's adoption of body…

I guess I fail to see how allowing corporations to pay for large parts of politicians' campaigns achieves the goals you're implicitly stating here.

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#58

Post by uxp »

gozur88 wrote: post #49
uxp wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You shouldn't lose your right to anything when you're in a group, but you shouldn't have more rights solely because you're in a group. The group should have rights, You should have rights, and everyone else should have rights. There's a distinction there.

What rights do I have as part of a corporation that I don't have as an individual?

You do not have any rights as part of a corporation that you do not already have as an individual. That is the distinction. The corporation has rights, of which you can enact on behalf of the corporation, that you cannot enact on your own. Limits on campaign contributions is one such right.

Because you carry in your wallet a card that declares you a member of a corporation, you are not granted any rights, personally.

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#59

Post by melted »

The exact same folks who Bernie is going to raise taxes for, mind you. He won't really be able to do anything against the 1% (since they own the Congress, and will continue to own it), but upper middle class represents an attractive target for a cash grab to pay for all those nice free rides he's promising to the poor.

Re: Bernie’s Army of Coders

#60

Post by bmelton »

monocasa wrote: post #55
bmelton wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It gets harder to measure, but on the argument of scalability, that varies dramatically. If I wrote an app that was as popular as GMail, it's very possibly much more impactful than a $100M worth of advertisements.

Can you point to an app that swung an election more than $100M worth of advertisements? Like, I know this is hacker news, home of "there's no limit to what you can achieve with hard work and VC money!", but if we're being honest with ourselves could even a single unicorn class app company swing a presidential election if it put it's mind to it?

Yes.

https://www.ngpvan.com/

I've worked on similar. An app that helps organize volunteers, sort and categorize mailing list responses, build street-maps for volunteers to walk to get the most value out of their canvasing time is worth FAR more than even a really good TV ad.

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