Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
United States

Political Issues of the Tech Community? 60

Posted by Cliff from the what-do-you-care-about dept.
DonJefe68 asks: "I'm planning to create a website which lists the political positions that US House and Senate candidates here in North Carolina have on issues of concern to the tech community. There are obvious issues like the DMCA and Fritz Hollings' CBDTPA as well as issues such as the effect of the economy on the tech sector and the USA PATRIOT Act's privacy concerns. What national issues other than intellectual property, privacy and jobs are we interested in?" Are there other sites that track politician votes, on technical issues, for other US States or on a national level? For those readers who do not live in the US, please feel free to speak your mind on this topic or on political issues that affect you as well.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Political Issues of the Tech Community? More

Political Issues of the Tech Community?

Comments Filter:
  • I hope the Supreme court makes this moot, but if not the copyright extension should be repealed.

    U.S. Government agencies must use open standards in all data transactions and data archives. Sincere Choice [sincerechoice.org] states this clearly.

    • Re:Copyright extension (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The biggest issue is copyright and all of the subissues contained within it:
      1. copyright term extension or limitation
      2. fair use
      3. drm
      4. backup copies for personal use
      5. ability to sell original media you bought given you don't own a backup copy (already exists for cd, vinyl, etc.)
      6. ability to edit media you bought for private use
      7. ability to edit movies and sell them given you have a purchased copy for every edited one (the book with crossed out 'bad' words example applies)
      8. ability to use the media for as long as you can with no openership expiration or ongoing licensing
      9. enforceability of eula
      10. clear delination of when a copyright expires (suggest 50 years after creation with none of this 'authors life + 50 years' nonsense)
      11. ability to modify without legal problems any hardware you purchase for your own personal use

  • Special interests have a place I guess (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rw2 ( 17419 ) on Tuesday September 24, 2002 @04:10PM (#4322037) Homepage
    I think it's great that you want to be more active. God knows that was my goal when I put together poliglut [poliglut.com] a couple years ago.

    I started out with more of a tech angle, but decided that the problem with the country was a more general lack of education. The people who would seek out your site regarding DMCA and it's ilk are probably going to find out what's going on anyway. So you will be putting out a lot of effort for not so much return.

    I would instead encourage you to find a way to put the word out about the importance of those issues in a mainstream web site. This effort is less likely to be wasted as there is an almost total vacuum outside of a few in the tech community concerning tech issues. (which makes sense of course or the legislation wouldn't be written in the first place).

    And, of course, you are welcome to write stuff, or republish stuff at poliglut.
    • You know, it's funny how "special interest groups" are evil -- unless they're us.
      • SHAMEFULLY STOLEN POST
        1) Crazy software patents
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies that want to patent ones and zeros.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Patents should be reasonable.
        2) Crazy business process patents
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies that want to patent air and water.
        GENERAL INTEREST: See #1
        3) DMCA
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies that want to charge consumers *per viewing*, and have laws make up for an outdated business model and technical ineptitude.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Consumers who want to buy a copy of a DVD, not the priviledge of watching it.
        4) DRM
        SPECIAL INTEREST: See #1 and #3.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Citizens who realize that computers are not merely tools for the distribution of copyrighted material, and wish to exercise their "right to compute".
        5) Spam (mandatory "ADV:" for unsoliticted
        commercial email)
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies who want to SPAM.
        GENERAL INTEREST: No one wants to be SPAMmed.
        6) Government developed software using open source
        licencing
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies who have been sucking at the teet that is the Federal Government for generations.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Taxpayers who don't want to pay for it anymore.
        7) UCITA / non-enforcability of shrinkwraps
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies that want to *impose* contract terms, rather than negotiate them.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Contracts must be mutual.
        8) Reverse engineering of software
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies that want to maintain monopoly dominance through closed protocols.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Citizens who want to maintain a capitalistic society and students who want to learn by disassembly.
        9) Privacy: opt-in vs opt-out
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies who make money by selling personal information.
        GENERAL INTEREST: People who don't realize their personal information is being sold.
        10) Governement use of open standards / file
        formats in software
        SPECIAL INTEREST: See #6 and #8
        GENERAL INTEREST: See #6 and #8
        11) Spyware
        SPECIAL INTEREST: See #9
        GENERAL INTEREST: See #9
        12) Government procurement policy
        encouraging/requiring open source
        SPECIAL INTEREST: See #6 and #8
        GENERAL INTEREST: See #6 and #8
        13) Legislation setting special penalties for
        violating open source licensing
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies that like to *borrow* open source software and pass it off as their own; or, optionally, open source companies that want special copyright protections.
        GENERAL INTEREST: None that I can tell. This is already well-covered by existing laws.
        14) Tolerating innovation in peer-to-peer tech
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Industry trade associations whose oligopolistic practices and technical ineptitude are highlighted by emerging technologies.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Computing researchers who are seeking better communications networks and consumers who are sick of paying $15 for a CD full of crap.
        15) Privacy: strong encryption for citizens
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Governments that would spy on their citizens.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Citizens who would exercise their right to freedom of speech and association.
        16) Privacy: right to surf anonymously
        SPECIAL INTEREST: See #15
        GENERAL INTEREST: See #15
        17) Digital Television: fair use rights
        SPECIAL INTEREST: See #1, #3 and #4
        GENERAL INTEREST: See #1, #3 and #4
        18) Right to modify hardware you own
        SPECIAL INTEREST: Companies that want to sell a product, then control every aspect of their customer's use of that product.
        GENERAL INTEREST: Ownership is a basic principle of a capitalistic society. /SHAMEFULLY STOLEN POST

  • H1-B Visas (Score:2, Interesting)

    by lynx_user_abroad ( 323975 )
    Probably ought to include H1-B Visas.

    <OPINION>

    Personally, I'd like to see the H1-B visa program eliminated, and anyone currently holding (or applying for) a H1-B upgraded to a full greencard. Anyone allowed to work in this country at all should not be restricted to just certain jobs under certain conditions. H1-B's allow an employer extra leverage over the employee; leaving a job for better pay/conditions elsewhere just isn't possible. I'd predict that once employers are deprived of this leverage, they'll start thinking twice about whether hiring a foreign worker is a financially sound thing to do.

    </OPINION>

    Am I off my rocker?

    • Am I off my rocker?

      No, but I think I may have a different slant on the issue. I'd like to see the H1-B program eliminated, and all the H1-B people sent home. There's a serious glut of American workers, give them the jobs first. The H1-B program was expanded in recent years because employers weren't able to fill the available slots with talented US citizens. That is no longer the issue, and it pains me to see people without jobs who have lived here their whole lives. The H1-B program expanded dramatically when the economy did as well, I think it should be contracted (or eliminated) as the economy has dropped.

      --trb
      • I agree that yours is the better approach between the two. Look at how many other countries handle this. The citizens of a nation MUST first be considered for the position before a foreign applicant can even be looked at. If there are no US applicants, then give the job to H1-B person.

        I know in a way this goes against a free economic model or a business' right to choose their own workers and what's best for them though. And this troubles me.
        • IANAE (employer, that is), but I have a feeling that in the UK, most decent employers operate on the principle of equal opportunities. There's a lot of fuss both in the tabloids and from unqualified British people because they often see better-qualified immigrants getting "their" jobs. It's all stupid. Equal opportunities is the only way to go - employing someone because they're from a certain country is just as damaging as discriminating against that person for their nationality. Whatever happened to employing the best person for the job? I know I'd rather be cared for by a fully-qualified doctor from India than a half trained medical student from Britain who was given the place because of their place of birth. Wouldn't you?
      • trb, You almost hit the nail on the head. The H1-B program was not expanded due to any sort of shortage(your remarks alone are clearly indicative of this fact) but rather the H1-B program was and is being used for the same reasons that corporations are sending jobs offshore, i.e. cheap labor. But, with regard to the original post. Are you off your rocker? No, not by a long shot. I work with a few H-1B's from India. They were brought into my group as HP syads. Now, at the time, I had been force-fed a lot of B/S about how "superior" they are to "technically-illiterate Americans." Of course, that myth was shattered when one of them asked me how to do a NFS-mount and the other, on another occasion had asked me what the asterick meant in a case statement in a ksh script. The notion of cheap labor is valid here, after all, you do get what you pay for! LOL!
  • You should use a database (MySQL would be a good choice for this). Your data model could have issues, politicians, politican_issue_position, and issue_groups.

    As for what issues, gosh there's a bunch:
    1) Crazy software patents
    2) Crazy business process patents
    3) DMCA
    4) DRM
    5) Spam (mandatory "ADV:" for unsoliticted commercial email)
    6) Government developed software using open source licencing
    7) UCITA / non-enforcability of shrinkwraps
    8) Reverse engineering of software
    9) Privacy: opt-in vs opt-out
    10) Governement use of open standards / file formats in software
    11) Spyware
    12) Government procurement policty encouraging/requiring open source
    13) Legislation setting special penalties for violating open source licencing
    14) Tolerating innovation in peer-to-peer tech
    15) Privacy: strong encryption for citizens
    16) Privacy: right to surf anonymously
    17) Digital Television: fair use rights
    18) Right to modify hardware you own

    • Echelon, Carnivore, and other BigBrotherWare.
    • I have been wondering why it so hard to find this information in one place. If possible, some way of allowing others to submit from their own state the views of those in office or running. Coming up with a form letter, maybe a standardized list of questions would be helpful for anyone willing to submit the letter to the candidates in their state.

      One thought though, would you need permission from the various politicians before posting their views?
      • One thought though, would you need permission from the various politicians before posting their views?

        God, I should hope not. Unless you plan to slander them. Really, you're just giving legitimitacy to censorship by questioning whether it's necessary. More people should read the Constitution and make up their own minds as to what their rights should be.

    • Needs some tweaks...

      6) Government developed software using open source licencing

      Why not just public domain it, that way everyone gets a crack, comercial and free, without licensing?

      12) Government procurement policty encouraging/requiring open source

      How about rephrasing that as picking the best tool for the job?

      14) Tolerating innovation in peer-to-peer tech

      Do the crime, do the time. Lets face it, someone pirated Dr Dre's album and Metalica's track on the MI:2 soundtrack prior to release (I'm probably missing some, perhaps Madonna as well), it pissed them off, they called their label (Just Time-Warner at that point, pre-merger), who in turn called the other 4 and said we have to kill these bastards now, instead of hunting down the leak internally and firing them.

      16) Privacy: right to surf anonymously

      Fine by me, but make the carriers log and only make those available if a wiretap warrant is issued, just like for phones.
  • Taxes on internet commerce.

    1. How they should and should not work.

    2. Where and when to place them.

    It is a necessary evil, one that the tech community has the opportunity to help evolve.
  • I miss the days when you didn't have to be a lawyer to be a nerd...
  • the corruption of the food supply through genetic engineering (ok, some good might come of it, but terminator and roundup-ready technologies are not going to help feed the world, we already have enough food for that)... privatisation of the worlds water supply... corruption of the health of the world by the big pharma companies... George W's obsession with waging war on *sombody*... the widening divide between rich and poor...

    Oh, you wanted tech issues? Sure, I have some concerns there too, but they are further down the list.
  • Besides your suggested issues of intellectual property, privacy, and jobs, how about
    • taxation (since we tend to make above-average salaries, and are highly mobile)
    • immigration (since immigrants are a major part of our industry)
    Depends on how peripheral you want to get.

    I am a little surprised by all the off-topic verbage by and about foreign readers, as most of these same issues affect people in most countries. Given the historically high and increasing share of trade in our economies, and how much the US exports software and depends on IP protection for those exports, what furreners think does matter. Also, when a country sets sensible policies, it can attract skilled workers from less sensible countries; thus does the US lure workers from much of the world, and Ireland lures companies from the US. I am an American expat living in (privacy-obsessed) Germany, and I cannot wait to return to working in Russia, under a 13% flat tax!!

    I'll come home to the US when the Free State Project [freestateproject.org] hits 20K.

    • Don't take offense to this, but you Libertarians are morons. In case you hadn't noticed the Federal government isn't about to entertain the thought of 20,000 people making their own "state". Your vaunted "freedoms" are just another word for "foolishly willfull anarchy."
      • >Don't take offense to this, but you Libertarians are morons.

        If I took offense at every moron's comments, I would indeed be a moron. But if we do make you crazy, please facilitate our relocation to a single state so as to spare you further contact. Our feeling about people like you is mutual, and we wouldn't complain. One of the inescapable weaknesses of democracy is that everyone gets the right to vote, no matter how unworthy; I would be happy without you in my electorate.

        >In case you hadn't noticed the Federal government isn't about
        >to entertain the thought of 20,000 people making their own "state".

        In case you hadn't noticed, that is not what we are doing. Critics of libertarianism are best at attacking strawmen. By the way, how do expect the USG to respond, with tanks?

        >Your vaunted "freedoms" are just another word for "foolishly willfull anarchy."

        The depth of your political theory would indeed make the Founders proud. If you want to critique libertarianism, go to
        http://world.std.com/~mhuben/libindex.html
        an d come back with some ammo.

        Our vaunted "freedoms" (um, why the quotes?) are nothing out of the ordinary, and found singly in various states and countries, and tested over time in the US. Libertarians want the personal freedoms of the Netherlands, the neutrality of Switzerland, and the economic freedom of Hong Kong--all demonstrably successful countries in their own way. Citing states, the legalized prostitution of Nevada, the taxes of the lowest taxing state, the "death with dignity" of Oregon, the school vouchers of Ohio, the right to bear arms of Maine, the homosexual marriage of Vermont, the legalized marijuana of...well, you're not quite there yet in the US; best to look to Europe for guidance on that one.

Slashdot Top Deals

"Sometimes insanity is the only alternative" -- button at a Science Fiction convention.

Close