Re: Scoring Politicians on Digital Liberty Issues (Re: Net Politics)

[jseiger@cdt.org (Jonah Seiger)]

At 9:38 PM 8/27/96, Timothy C. May wrote:
>(I have no idea where the virtual nexus of this debate is taking place...

  [the 'virtual nexus' of this debate is actually on fight-censorship
   <http://www.eff.org/~declan/fight-censorship/>. Somehow it got cross
   posted to c'punks. Though I know it is annoying, I am cc'ing this to
   c'punks but I will keep all further replies to fight-censorship]

>I think it laudable that CDT has chosen to remain in D.C. to "work within
>the system." Personally, I could never stomach doing this.

Thanks. Sometimes I need to throw back a few bottles of Pepto (or something
a little harder), but working in DC is sometimes rewarding and always
exciting.

<...>

>On the specific issue of whether Sen. Leahy is or is not a "friend of the
>Net," to use him as an example here, I suggest a different approach.
>Instead of classifying Leahy as a friend or an enemy, or Burns as a friend
>or an enemy, etc., why not a *ratings system*?

A very solid suggestion.

I think this is a good idea for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is
that it would help define our issues for the Congress, the Administration,
the press, and the rest of the country. Partly because it's true and partly
because we are not as well organized as we could be, the perception of the
net.community on Capitol Hill is of a less-than-unified body politic.

This idea could help to change that attitude if it is done right.

<...>

>The issues for a scorecard might be accumulated on the Net, with inputs
>from CDT, VTW, EFF, Cypherpunks, and other interested groups. It could be
>messy, but perhaps not. Even a *simple* set of principles, picked by almost
>any of these organizations, would likely be enough to get a reasonable
>scoring system...it's not as if we all don't know that Leahy's support for
>the Digital Telephony Bill was a major downcheck--whatever the realpolitik
>issues were--and that his support of Pro-Code is a major upcheck. The value
>of scoring is that it takes out the often-painful issues of classifying
>politicians as "friends" or "enemies."

I remember 2 years ago (I think?) VTW did something like this.  As I
recall, the only issue was Digital Telephony, and every member of Congress
(save 2 or 3) got an F. IMHO, this was not as effective as it could have
been, but it was a good start.  Our issues are much more front-and-center
than they were in 94, so this time around perhaps such and effort will have
more impact.

As far as I know, VTW is gearing up to do this again, though I haven't
spoken to Shabbir about his plans. If he or anyone else is seriously
considering doing this, I am certainly happy to contribute some time and a
few ideas to the effort.

Jonah

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Jonah Seiger, Policy Analyst           Center for Democracy and Technology
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