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Lessig For Congress? 137
luge writes "With the unfortunate passing of Congressman Tom Lantos, parts of Silicon Valley and San Francisco will be holding a special election in June to send a replacement to Congress. Given the area, it would be great to have someone who is both tech- and policy-aware fill the seat — and it looks like that just might happen. Lawrence Lessig has apparently bought 'change-congress.com.' A 'Draft Lessig' group is forming on Facebook, featuring some of Lessig's old co-workers at Harvard and Jimmy Wales, among others. No word from Lessig himself yet, but he's been increasingly vocal about politics of late. If it happens, it would be a huge step forward for the representation of technology in Washington."
Real chance? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Real chance? (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps not in the Senate, but this is the House, and he's a Bay Area resident. We have a few little companies here that are full of employees who feel pretty strongly about rational technology law; you know, Google, Apple, Yahoo, and about seventy-three thousand startups. House elections are local.
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Haha - well noted. I actually originally composed my post to say "companies that feel strongly about rational technology law." Then realized the mistake and changed it to employees.
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Re:Real chance? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Real chance? (Score:4, Informative)
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Berman may be promoted off the subcommittee... (Score:2, Interesting)
... on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property on account of this unfortunate event. See this article [arstechnica.com]. Getting him off and getting Lessing on this committee, even as a junior Congressman could have a huge effect in getting good legislation to the floor of Congress that is currently blocked.
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Not Silicon Valley (Score:3, Informative)
Congressman Mike Honda [house.gov] is the representative for most of "Silicon Valley" which includes San Jose, Santa Clara, and Cupertino -- the 15th District.
Now, if you want to cover Google and Stanford, then that's the 14th District -- which includes Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Redwood City -- and Congresswoman Anna Eshoo [house.gov] is very much alive.
Silicon Valley is well represented already.
Re:Real chance? (Score:5, Funny)
Just coming up with bribes large enough to get his attention would bankrupt
the RIAA, MPAA, and similar mob enterprises.
Already bribed (Score:2)
They have a *lot* of leverage to use for bribes. "Say, you want all the top-40 crap exclusively on MS-Windows Live? That's easy. Just make sure all equipment must have DRM built-in."
It's already happening. That's why Microsoft is so willing to add end-to-end DRM to MS-Windows.
I know you are just making a joke, but the joke's on us. Gates already has more influence via Microsoft than all the government regulation in the computer industry combined.
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Re:Real chance? (Score:4, Insightful)
I doubt he'd be electable in a state which contains a large percentage (if not the largest) of content providers.
I disagree. He is strongly anti-piracy, and has the support of major content providers with his Creative Commons initiative. The copyright reforms he seeks to implement are geared mainly towards removing the legal barrier towards creating fair-use derivative works of content and facilitating amateur content creation. This may not be a savory notion for the big studios, but it is not a life-or-death burden on their business models, either.
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Nonsense (Score:2)
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He argued against infinite copyright in front of the supreme court, against BigMedia's interest.
The majority of works yield no economic benefit whatsoever even just a few decades past their creation. They sit in a vault and age and degrade and are lost forever. Read Lessig's book on copyright for more insight. The economic impact on the studios of limited copyright is much less than its perceived impact. In fact, one might argue that once a work has no more economic benefit to its owner, the owner would
Nah too many vote (Score:2)
ESR For Congress! (Score:2)
Re:ESR For Congress! (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd vote against him (Score:1, Insightful)
I hope I'm not trashing the wrong lawyer...
Re:I'd vote against him (Score:4, Insightful)
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Umm, no. That was 2002. Not even close to ten years ago.
But I agree, kind of a ridiculous criticism. Hindsight is 20/20, and all that.
Re:I'd vote against him (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:I'd vote against him (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't mean to sound like a fanboy, but Lessig has proven that he's willing to fight for the things I (and likely you, this being Slashdot and all) actually care about, and you slag him because he didn't win his supreme court case! Unbelievable.
Copyright or corruption as his platform? (Score:5, Interesting)
Both (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Copyright or corruption as his platform? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I like it, in theory (Score:2)
Sounds like an Imperial Auditor [wikipedia.org] to me...
We definitely need some people with this kind of mandate and power, provided there are enough checks on said power to prevent it being used for Evil instead of Good...
Dan Aris
Re:Does he realize what he'd have to do on corrupt (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Does he realize what he'd have to do on corrupt (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Does he realize what he'd have to do on corrupt (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Does he realize what he'd have to do on corrupt (Score:2)
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Founder of Creative Commons (Score:5, Informative)
I'd never heard of him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig [wikipedia.org]
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Re:Founder of Creative Commons (Score:5, Insightful)
Not so. He was pretty clear about the fact that he feels copyright is a symptom, and the corruption disease must be tackled in order to advance rational copyright law which balances the needs of creators and consumers. He has not turned his back on copyright reform, but taken what he sees as the only viable path to the goal.
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Lessig is (was?) a featured writer in Wired Magazine. He is a brilliant supporter of free culture, and has a lot of foresight towards the future in a very-RMS way.
Anybody unfamiliar with his ideas would do good to read more [lessig.org]
Best of a bad bunch? (Score:1, Insightful)
Man who communicates (Score:1, Insightful)
Obama + Lessig = Win (Score:5, Interesting)
In the potential future where Lessig runs and wins, and Obama wins, we'd have two more Slashdot Moral Values-friendly politicians in office. Of course, there's already people like Dick Boucher of Virginia.
[1] Of course, who knows how committed Obama is to his tech platform, and/or how much he'd have to compromise to appease the Congresscritters who've been bought by the telecom and copyright cartels.
Re:Obama + Lessig = Win (Score:5, Interesting)
"Slasdot Moral Values" ???! (Score:1, Flamebait)
Wow.
Oxymoron-O-Meter just pinned Eleven.
Not to mention the "Hive Mind Group Think" litmus test, which just burst into flames.
Listen, if you think everyone at slashdot (or everyone in the Tech Industry) is an Obama/Lessig fan, you've got too many people on your ignore list.
You'll probably get a pass here on slashdot, but I recommend you not try this again on a forum wher
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Lets see what the candidates have to say:
Immigration
Obama's plan and record on immigration [barackobama.com]. Now lets compare that to
McCain's platform [johnmccain.com]. Who's more "feels good but means nothing"?
Patent Reform
Obama's stance [barackobama.com] on his website. McCain doesn't even *mention* patent reform at all on his website, and even after a cursory Google search the best I could find is this quote from PC World:
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Just because two people read the same thing doesn't mean they come away with the same opinion. I still find Obama naive and without the political clout to do anything other than be a puppet for someone else. It's nice saying all the nice words, but I don't see in him the ability to lead and make anything happen. And I won't fault someone for not having a patent reform agenda on their web sit
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Just so you know, Hillary and John McCain aren't reciting their budget proposals to the audience either.
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Obama Supporter (Score:4, Informative)
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Intellectuals in politics (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:Intellectuals in politics (Score:5, Insightful)
Proof of this is readily available when you look at documentation of the CIA's activities in the early 60's. That is what happens when you give a bureaucracy carte blanc and no oversight. They invaded a country. Of course, 9/11 had some of the same effects as nuclear cold war--it instilled fear in the public, which means they are apt to press their politicians to give up power in favor of the bureaucracy. Thus we have wiretapping, prison camps, torture, etc, all existing outside of the normal decision-making process. The worst part is that the bureaucracy is run by the president. He's the chief executive and the president of all the departments and sub-departments of the bureaucracy. Congress can only make the laws that govern this body, and the judicial can only rule when a suit is brought. Thus, they have unlimited power until they get caught.
Heady stuff, no wonder people want to be president so badly.
I agree, however, that having some intelligence in the Congress would provide some leadership to the people who need it most. The problem is, all the stupid people wouldn't like him and he'd be voted out. People seem to prefer people who think at their own level, apparently.
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Why does everyone pick on him for this bit of his comment? It's the only bit that actually makes sense. A series of tubes is a perfectly good analogy for the internet. It is essentially a series of interconnected conduits, and if one of them gets clogged up it will slow down the whole system.
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Honesty isn't We have enough folks that engage in "dialogical engagement with other experts" and the greatest contribution that provides is hot carbon dioxide - and this is something you feel we need
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how does the average citizen distinguish between a hard worker with the best interests of the country at heart and a very good actor who has his own interest, or some special interest, at heart.
This is the issue... in the end, everything falls apart if the masses elect the wrong people and there is a lot to be gained by looking good while doing bad, so there will always be sleaze in politics.
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Of course, the disadvantage provided by academic expertise is that the politicians would use words like "dialogical."
All things considered, I'll take the non-academic, thanks.
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Sounds good, but... (Score:2)
Fantastic! (Score:5, Interesting)
For instance, I would feel much better about food safety legislation designed by a Congresswoman who was an actual FDA scientist. Then I could be reasonably sure that facts played a large role in her decisions.
Lessig vs. Putnam (Score:5, Insightful)
I hope he runs. We need more legislators with practical life experiences who are not only experts in particular disciplines, but know enough about legal or scientific methods to form intelligent opinion based on facts on other subjects instead of voting the way the polls or campaign contributors tell them to.
I'll vote for him! (Score:5, Funny)
Lessig for SCOTUS (Score:5, Insightful)
Lessig lives in the wrong district? (Score:4, Informative)
That said, I would fully support Lessig for congress. Hopefully he can bring some knowledge and sanity to important committees.
-molo
Re:Lessig lives in the wrong district? (Score:5, Informative)
It doesn't matter (Score:2)
Now this can be a problem if the opponent does live in the district and makes a big deal out of it (i.e. "I've lived in California's 25th all my life...my opponent only visits for good sushi") but the usefulness of that depends on how different the districts might be or how far away district lines are.
If someone gets elected to represent a district they don't live in, they typically go through the rout
Not to be negative, but... (Score:1)
J
Don't Waste Out In Congress! (Score:4, Interesting)
Sure, maybe he could have a little more impact working from the inside, but I'm cynically afraid that he'd soon be disgusted and burnt out against the rot in there.
Scary... (Score:1, Flamebait)
I'm sure his wikipedia page will be carefully protected by a very efficient cabal though.
Yes, it would be a huge change (Score:2)
No chance (Score:4, Insightful)
Lessig will have a better chance if he tries for Anna Eshoo's seat when she retires, but he would have a lot of work to do to win a Democratic nomination out of the blue. In this area, there is a very active and strong Democratic party infrastructure and the path to that seat is usually via the state assembly/senate or San Mateo County Board of Supervisors.
If Lessig really wants in to congress, he should run for local office first.
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"All politics are local." Silicon Valley isn't about tech, it's about people. Its just possible the voters in his district are more concerned about health insurance than copyright reform.
About freaking time. (Score:2)
The 'Wag, Scoble and I had this a week ago. (Score:2)
Official word from Larry Lessig, posted today: (Score:2)
Re:An OK choice, but I have an idea for someone el (Score:2)