How A UK Fax Campaign Helped Preserve Privacy

Neil Watson writes: "An interesting story on how some computer users created a website to enable citizens to fax their federal representative (MP) to comment on a controversial privacy bill." And it's encouraging, since they actually got the Home Office to blink.

wow

[tps12]

A website about a website about faxing your representatives...and now this is a message on a website about websites, in a story about a website about a website about faxing your representatives. Whew. So I guess this is what they mean when they talk about "multimedia!"

Not only that but Slashdot contributed

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Atleast one person (me) found out about the issue right here on slashdot as well as the Fax webpage. I was one of the hundreds that used this mechanism. I received a very nice letter from my MP thanking me for my interest and noting that the legislation had been voted down (actually he was quite happy about it, as he's in opposition).

Wow- real democracy! And in the semi-police state of the UK. Who'd have thought?

EFF Action Center

[X86Daddy]

This is hopeful news for us in The States: EFF has set up an Action Center [eff.org] that operates the same way, allowing us to Fax our congress-critters

Re:If I wanted to be a fascist dictator...

[Yarn]

benefit of the 'fax your mp' site is that it's on the web. You can access it via a throwaway AOL account, or a anonymising proxy, etc.

Re:If I wanted to be a fascist dictator...

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Actually the web site was very carefully constructed. The MP gets your actual home address and can contact you to ask questions, and verify your identity in any number of ways.

Re:If I wanted to be a fascist dictator...

[Yarn]

I didn't use it, and I assumed you could enter semi-random gibberish.

(I snail-mailed my MP)

Re:If I wanted to be a fascist dictator...

[WolfWithoutAClause]

Yes, but you presumably want the MP to do something. For that he may want reason to believe that he actually is representing you, otherwise he'll probably just bin it. He may even want to ring you about the issue; so filling in garbage is not a good idea.

[OT] On the acronym "MP"

[ThinkingGuy]

I really like the acronym "MP" for "member of parliament." I wish we Americans could adopt a similar convention and start referring to our representatives as "MC's" (members of Congress). It's short, succinct, gender neutral, and can include both houses.

Compared to any of these:
Write your congressman
Write your senator or congressperson
Write your congressional representative
Write your congressman or congresswoman
Write your congresscritter

... "Write your MC" is so much easier!

Unfortunately, since so many of us associate "MC" with rap music, my usage probably won't catch on.

Re:[OT] On the acronym "MP"

[Ratface]

I can see it now...

Yo! MC Bush in da (White) house!

:-D

Re:[OT] On the acronym "MP"

[rpjs]

I dunno, I love "congresscritter" - I wish we had some similarly contemptuous term for our elected lords and masters here in the UK. "MP" is too neutral and un-perjorative.

Re:[OT] On the acronym "MP"

[Noel]

Appropriate, too. Seems like they are often more like emcees than like representatives...

In what sense is an MP a "federal representative"?

[DHam]

As alledgedly well educated people like the editors should be aware, the UK has a unitary form of government. There is no federal government in the UK and hence no federal representatives!