111–120 of 171 posts
Fast forward to next week: "The White House announces a new threshold of 500,000 signatures before it will respond to online petitions." I was initially enthusiastic about these online petitions, but it doesn't seem like any of them have had an effect.
OK, something I don't understand. What's to stop someone from opening a store that sells unlocked phones? Is it because of the lack of carrier discount? If that's the case, people have already voted with their money on what they value more.
"people have already voted with their money on what they value more" 1. We do not vote with money in America. Poor people get as much of a vote as rich people in this country. 2. By making jailbreaking illegal, the government is giving carriers a special legal status that makes it harder for anyone else to compete. If you want a market-based solution to life's problems, you cannot have the government swoop in and giv…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_voting
I'd disagree with the notion as applied here, though, because buying an unlocked phone is rigged to be a bad choice because so few carriers offer cheaper service prices for unsubsidized handsets.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since when is the President a 'lawmaker?' If you want to get law-makers (i.e. legislators) to take notice just write your representative a letter.
Since at least 1970, when the Controlled Substances Act gave the executive branch of government the power to declare drugs illegal without involving Congress.
We need to stop calling these "Petition to ". These are not petitions for things to happen. This is not a petition to make phone unlocking legal again, it's a petition for the Whitehouse to write a response. Furthermore, these petitions aren't going to be seen by lawmakers, as someone in the below comment says. Strictly speaking, the President is part of the executive branch, not the legislative branch, so in any eve…
oh I am pretty many of the lawmakers have interns or the likes whose job it is to watch certain sites for trends and such.
I have this fear that people will think signing these petitions is "enough" (or "anything" really) and won't do more to push their particular issue. This literally does nothing but solicit a response from the White House, and 99% of the time (likely 100% but I don't know that for sure), the response could have been written by anyone familiar with the White House's already-public stance on the issue.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe I'm just cynical (okay, I'm probably just cynical), but that looks like a slightly more positive spin on essentially the same idea: a whole lot of 'communicating' and no action. > edit: Ok, why the heck do they call their page Swampland? Probably because it's about politics, and according to popular myth, DC was built on a swamp.
First step to action is communication. Politicians aren't mind readers, they need to communicate with their constituents to understand their wants. Whether or not a petition is an effective means of communication I'm not qualified to answer, but it seems like a better option than doing nothing at all.
Specifically, people generally think of petitions as things where, given n signatures, some kind of action is going to be taken (as in 'the right to petition government for redress of grievances'). In that context, it's easy to forget that the most you can 'win' is a response. Hence, 'victory' feels hollow, which can take more energy away from a movement than not having had a petition to rally around in the first place.
Hope that makes sense. I'm not arguing against the system itself, but I think it's overplaying its hand by calling itself a petition system.
It's funny how you have to petition to have lawmakers pay attention to an issue, when by definition, those people are there to represent the interest of the majority in the first place.
If all 100k people chipped in a $100, it would have more effect than this petition. We live in a time where it takes money to get elected.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ok, the case for locked phones is that you can get a $600 phone for $200. If you want to truly OWN your device, you can pay fair market value for it, and get service from whoever you want.
> the case for locked phones is that you can get a $600 phone for $200. Paying $200 instead of $600 is covered by the two year contract you sign with a carrier to get a subsidized phone, during which you pay them back the cost of that subsidization. If you leave early, an early-termination fee ensures that the subsidization is paid for. At the end of your two year contract, you've paid back the full cost of the phone…
I'm not sure I see the issue here - if you want the unlocked phone, then buy it and pay for a SIM only type contract, or do such things not exist in the US?
Fast forward to next week: "The White House announces a new threshold of 500,000 signatures before it will respond to online petitions." I was initially enthusiastic about these online petitions, but it doesn't seem like any of them have had an effect.
What kind of effect were you expecting? The president promises to do whatever you want as long as you get N "signatures" on a weakly authenticated website? Even if you got those N people to all show up in person at the White House door, wrapping policy around the desires of a vocal minority is not a valid or just way to structure a government. They promised to respond, which is about all they can promise. And this gi…
No, it is actually a safety valve. If the public gets a little too agitated about anything they can go sign a petition to let of some steam. This petition site furthers couch-potato politics; it enables people to 'do their bit' without actually moving their ass. It neutralizes those who are naturally prone to apathy already.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If all 100k people chipped in a $100, it would have more effect than this petition. We live in a time where it takes money to get elected.
Is there something like a kickstarter but for political issues? That would be perfect.
In an ideal world, you would be able to choose what your taxes were used for. While filing taxes, you could select:
NASA: 10%
GREEN ENERGY RESEARCH: 10%
ROAD MAINTENANCE: 10%
and so on..
Just a fantasy. Please don't bash me for imagining having taxes at all 'in an ideal world.'
Hey everyone, I started this petition. Very glad we made it to 100k, and excited to see how the White House responds. I'm well aware that the WH may not take any real action though. Please sign up at http://fixthedmca.org if you care about this issue and want to continue helping the move to fix this issue permanently.
Seems like we'd be better off with a system just like the Whitehouse one but designed for petitioning both the President and our representatives at the same time. At the end of the day, the executive branch doesn't make laws. It just signs them at the end of the process. Fixing the DMCA needs to start in the legislative branch (or be ruled unconstitutional by the judicial). The petition system should geolocate you, s…