Geeks in government: A good idea?

Dangger

From CNet By Declan McCullagh

Too often, though, programmers, system administrators and other IT pros become understandably outraged by the latest attempts to restrict technology--and react by doing precisely the wrong thing. They set up irate Web sites, launch online petition drives and tell all their friends to write to their congressional representatives.

Here's the bitter truth: These efforts are mostly a waste of time. Sure, they may make you feel better, but they're not the way to win.

Take the widely reviled Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Even though Slashdotters have spent years buzzing around in circles over DMCA lawsuits brought by the Justice Department against Dmitry Sklyarov, and the big movie studios against 2600 magazine, Congress simply doesn't care.

Instead, technologists should be doing what comes naturally: inventing technology that outpaces the law and could even make new laws irrelevant.

Sigh...:rolleyes: oh the parrallels, give or take 10 years time lag.

MDR

Dunno 'bout you Dave but I lost my geekisms long ago,
and although we have more geeks to the pound in IOFFL,
the majority of our membership are non-geeks ... well probabily ...
we should have added a question along those lines to the survey

1.1 Are you a geek YES/NO

if YES ignore any further results from this respondant ...

wormhole

"Geeks in government: A good idea?"

yes it would make a change from the drooling knuckle dragging troglodytes
who are in charge at the moment.


wormhole

dahamsta

Declan McCullagh's article has been covered and addressed extensively:

Politech readers reply

Slashdot thread on the original article

Public Knowledge response

Slightly related, there's also been a fair bit of hoo-hah about an op/ed piece by journalist Bill Thompson, who reckons that it's time to stop farting about and regulate the Internet just like everything else:

Damn the Constitution: Europe must take back the Web

Responses from Register readers

adam