I got HN upvote nr. 1337!
That means my petition signature will hold a special weight.
Today is The Day We Fight Back
191–200 of 267 posts
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#192I'm going to play devil's advocate here and suggest that if political involvement is what we're shooting for, robo-calling your representatives isn't the best way to achieve true reform. Pissed that the NSA (or insert gov agency here) is running amok? Get involved in your government, vote out the lawmakers who let/made [it] happen, and advocate for and vote in representatives who will invoke the change you want. Appe…
Can you give us a list of "representatives who will invoke the change you want?" Are there any? You are correct, though, that following the DC pattern of "follow this script while calling your congresscritters" is insufficient. This turns privacy advocates/Internet users into just another special interest group -- which is dwarfed by AARP (40+ million members) or the NRA (which managed to defeat congressional efforts…
Great article, I enjoy the input from someone who was or is "inside DC" and isn't looking at this issue purely from a tech/IT angle. I'm not suggesting I have a list of lawmakers to vote out, just that in an effort to enact political change we should become part of the process, not just the members (as you stated so well) of another special interest group.
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
Push even harder during elections.
What does that buy us, when politicians ignore campaign promises and so much of this is secret enough that it takes more than 4 years to come out?
politicians ignore campaign promises You should back or elect different candidates. Don't simply choose the candidate others have chosen for you, get involved earlier in the process to make sure the person you're voting for has a greater chance of voting for the issues you care deeply for.
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#194Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does that buy us, when politicians ignore campaign promises and so much of this is secret enough that it takes more than 4 years to come out?
politicians ignore campaign promises You should back or elect different candidates. Don't simply choose the candidate others have chosen for you, get involved earlier in the process to make sure the person you're voting for has a greater chance of voting for the issues you care deeply for.
That worked really poorly with the last "Hope & Change" candidate.
If you suggest voting for an independent... That is sort of a pipedream in the current US election climate. Noble thought and effort to push for such a candidate, but they have little to no chance of actually being electable. And even if they do get elected... Whats to stop them from being totally corrupted, or just overtly ignored by the rest of the government?
You think Obama had a hard time pushing through legislation? Just wait till some independent has to fight both Dems & Repubs on every issue because he/she isn't part of either party (and basically a slap in the face to their power structure.)
Edit: The biggest issue (in my opinion) at this point is the two party system that is entrenched beyond belief.
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does that buy us, when politicians ignore campaign promises and so much of this is secret enough that it takes more than 4 years to come out?
politicians ignore campaign promises You should back or elect different candidates. Don't simply choose the candidate others have chosen for you, get involved earlier in the process to make sure the person you're voting for has a greater chance of voting for the issues you care deeply for.
But that only works if what they say at the outset correlates sufficiently with what they'll do in office.
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#196The suggested script is kind of awkward if your representative is already supporting the USA Freedom Act. However, even if they are already in support, it seems important to let them know you have their back on this, and that your future support will continue to be contingent on their stance on surveillance-related issues (if indeed it is). I know not of these things from a political angle, but the following seems reasonable to me
1. Start the call by asking if they're cosponsoring of the USA Freedom Act.
2a. If they are not, use the script, it makes sense.
2b. If they are, thank them for their support of this bill. You can also let them know how important these surveillance issues are to you and the extent to which your representative's actions on these matters will affect your behavior at the polls and in donations.
Just a heads up to those planning to call (please do!). I felt kind of silly finding out that the first senator on my list was already a cosponsor after reading through the script, and wanted to save others the minor embarrassment. It should feel good to call your representatives and express your support for such important issues!
That aside, this is a really great campaign. Thank you so much to everyone who put it together and made it happen!!
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#197All of the people who built the site and the banner are volunteers who met on HN across various threads, and not members of any of the advocacy orgs or companies listed on the site. We're really interested in getting feedback on how future campaigns can be better, and happy to discuss some of the decisions we made. The non-profits involved did all the legal and organization lifting, and this is a great opportunity to…
Great site and resource, thanks!
When I shared the link with a friend he mentioned he was uncomfortable giving his number and email address. Maybe consider having a link close to those fields to help the visitor find the number or email address of their Representative. That way if someone doesn't want to give out that information there is a quick alternative available.
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#198Earlier quoted context omitted.
What does that buy us, when politicians ignore campaign promises and so much of this is secret enough that it takes more than 4 years to come out?
politicians ignore campaign promises You should back or elect different candidates. Don't simply choose the candidate others have chosen for you, get involved earlier in the process to make sure the person you're voting for has a greater chance of voting for the issues you care deeply for.
In the election of my local representative there are only two realistic contenders - both from the 2 main parties. No one else has the resources to send out all the junk mail and recruit all the college kids to harass people.
And the funny thing is - just like probably most of the congress people - our representative isn't really all that bad. She's just not really good. She's just a nice old lady that's a vanilla career democrat. The chances she'll be voted out are effectively zero.
So I just don't vote for people any more (i leave it blank). However, I still go to the polls to do the ballot initiatives
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#199All of the people who built the site and the banner are volunteers who met on HN across various threads, and not members of any of the advocacy orgs or companies listed on the site. We're really interested in getting feedback on how future campaigns can be better, and happy to discuss some of the decisions we made. The non-profits involved did all the legal and organization lifting, and this is a great opportunity to…
Next time you do this, you should create a widget for calling Congressmen directly, the way Tumblr did it with SOPA last year I think. Calls are much more effective than signatures or emails and I barely even see a 2-step call to action for it. It should be the big immediate and obvious call to action right on the front.
So a congressman is going to pickup all these calls with a pen and pencil ready?
Re: Today is The Day We Fight Back
#200Distributed Denial of Misservice Attack