On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 20:28, Steven M. Bellovin<smb@cs.columbia.edu> wrote:
On Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:20:55 -0400 Eric Brunner-Williams <brunner@nic-naa.net> wrote:
randy,
moveon is a maine-based org. it is an effective, fund raising, partisan organization. it is much more than a click-and-opine vehicle, it puts hundreds of thousands of dollars into competitive races, and has a competent political director.
to create a "NagOn" we would have to hire or appoint a political director, and a financial director, and charge each with framing the issue, and executing a seven figure plan, and a communications director, to put the message with the money in targeted media markets, and finally, to show teeth, drop the margin of error, or on the order of high five, low six figures, in targeted congressional races, for challengers and incumbants.
in about a year after starting down this path, the "Congressman, its NagOn on line one" conversation would be slightly different from today, and in several years time, more so.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
I don't know that a NagOn is the best way or the only way to make progress. I do know that the most likely source of that kind of funding is (many of) our employers, who may not have technical excellence on the top of their lists. But I'm even more certain that if technical people never speak up, their message will never be heard, except perhaps by accident.
--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
I believe that this is exactly the kind of thing that the US ISOC Chapters should be (and are to varying degrees) involved in -- providing legitimate technical information and expert analysis of local, state and federal policies which impact the Internet, to those making the policies. The global ISOC already does this for ICANN and other international organizations, it seems fitting that the chapters do more of this here inside the USA. I encourage everyone with even a fleeting interest in tech-policy to seek out their local ISOC chapter (http://www.isoc.org/isoc/chapters/list.php?region=worldwide&status=A) and let them know that you care. I can tell you as the founding chair of the Colorado chapter that my largest hurdle today is getting active members to participate - I have funding, etc, just no help... (I invite everyone to contact me directly with suggestions and ideas in this vein - I have some vehicles in place to start making this happen quickly with a bit of help) </soapbox> ~Chris -- Chris Grundemann weblog.chrisgrundemann.com www.burningwiththebush.com www.coisoc.org