Hometown Paper Takes Howard Coble to Task

Lunenburg writes: "The Greensboro (NC) News & Record ran a column in their Sunday paper last week entitled Coble wrong about Hollywood Hackers, in which columnist Edward Cone suggests that Coble's support of the P2P Hacking bill may just be his way of showing his support for the Copyright industry, without really supporting the methods." There's some more (including contact information) below.

"The column touches on the creation of the Hollywood vigilante mob, Coble's campaign contributions, and suggests that people across the internet, not just in Coble's 6th District, email Coble and Berman with their polite, well-reasoned opposition to the bill.

What if that trickle turned into a flood, not just from the North Carolina Piedmont but from all around the country? It would be a watershed moment in the Internet's rise as a force in American democracy. (And the Web is all that democracy has going for it just now in terms of putting the heat under Coble and Berman, who are both running unopposed by major-party candidates this year.)

There is plenty of time for action. Congress is in recess, and the bill won't be considered until September. Meanwhile, Howard Coble has shown himself to be willing to listen and learn, and even to revise his opinion in public. The corporate hacking bill needs to be changed, and you have the power to help change it.

Here's a chance to see if email activism really works!"

And they're all addressed to Kris Kringle!

[realgone]

What if that trickle turned into a flood, not just from the North Carolina Piedmont but from all around the country? It would be a watershed moment in the Internet's rise as a force in American democracy.

Okay, someone *really* needs to stop watching the end of "Miracle on 34th Street" before writing his columns.

Watershed? No. It's called mailbombing -- and has happily been ignored by politicians both big and small since the dawn of time [swatch.com].

Re:And they're all addressed to Kris Kringle!

[geekoid]

funny, my representitives perfer email. I have had many replies. Then off thing is, they only reply via postage mail.

Being from the area... I don't think we will ..

[LWolenczak]

I live in the Piedmont of North Carolina (for those not of North Carolina, the middle of the state. I hate to say it, but people around here are ignorant. Many know what the internet is, but don't understand that it is our last bastion of freedom left in this country.. besides our minds.... It is the only true place where one can speak out, and maybe, just maybe not get in trouble for what they say. This is diminishing, but people around here just don't care. As long as they have their porn, their happy. Yes, North Carolina has a fairly big porn... err pr0n industry... you just don't hear about it much.

Respect?

[innocent_white_lamb]

Hmmm.... The congressman's aide says in so many words that this guy knows absolutely nothing about computers and the Internet. Then in the next breath, we are admonished to be "respectful" with any response that we email to them.

Excuse me? Respect has to be earned, the same way as trust is earned.

It is extremely presumptuous, not to mention ignorant, for a fellow who knows absolutely nothing about a subject to pompously horn his way into a debate or an issue and say, "Ok boys, I'll settle this right now. Here is how it is going to be."

It would be like me somehow being in a position to dictate regulations regarding how doctors perform surgery and then proceeding to draft the legislation without taking any steps to find out anything about surgical methods beforehand.

Respect my foot! This jumped-up fool presumes to trespass into an area that he knows nothing about, and then has the unmitigated nerve to demand respect?

I don't think so.

Email Activism

[NexusTw1n]

Mail bombing politicians does not work. Especially 71 year old politicians "Who don't know how to turn on a computer".

Old fashioned letters work, as do faxes, there is something about the tangible quality of paper that sends the message home, especially when you see a large pile of it, all devoted to telling you politely you are wrong.

Here in the UK, there is an easy to use system with no agenda (i.e. you can use the site to fax your MP about anything) that allows you to send a fax to the politician quickly and easily.

UK only [faxyourmp.com]

One assumes there is a similar site for Senators - I found one here [disclosureproject.org] but they seem to want you to only use the site if you share their agenda.

No doubt there are others, if not, why not ? There's enough talent on /. to set up and run such a site.

Always be polite and offer a well argued case. If all you want to write is You suck, you a55h01e, i hope u r forced to suck satan's cock forever MOFO then spend the time downloading some more p0rn instead. Every message like that, negates 20 intelligent letters.

You can make a difference - The UK government recently backed down over the extension to the RIP act partly due to the sheer volume of mail they received from the public making it clear they were not going to tolerate such infringement of privacy.

Geeks force government climbdown [bbc.co.uk]

If every US /. poster contacted the senate before the vote, it would make a difference. Senators want votes even more than they want bribes.

Um, someone's missing the point.

[Dthoma]

"It would be a watershed moment in the Internet's rise as a force in American democracy."

News flash. The Internet already is a big force in American democracy.