Archive: Category: TechPresident

A quick post since today is going to be a very busy day. A few weeks back, I wrote a long post asking whether Obama's networked movement was going to do more than just work to elect him president. Well, it looks like the battle to hold him accountable to his promises has already begun, over his support for the FISA bill, and especially over a provision giving the telecom companies retroactive immunity for breaking the law when they gave the Bush Administration access to Americans phone records without judicial authorization. See for example Glenn Greenwald's scalding attack on Obama in Salon. Note that Obama's spokesman promised he would filibuster any bill containing retroactive immunity for the telcos, back in...

I'll be going live to the web from time-to-time during the next two-and-a-half days as...

We're pleased to announce a first for the Internet Election of 2008: Starting tonight, a designated representative of both of the major presidential campaigns are going to participate in a free-wheeling debate on technology and government, moderated by Time magazine blogger Ana Marie Cox and channeled via Twitter. The McCain campaign will be represented by Liz Mair, the online communications director of the Republican National Committee. The Obama campaign will be represented by Mike Nelson, a professor at Georgetown University who served in the Clinton White House under Vice President Gore on tech policy issues. The debate is an initiative of Personal Democracy Forum and is being launched in tandem with next week's annual PdF conference, which is taking place Monday...

The Twittering congressman is now the Qik-ing congressman: Texas Republican Rep. John Culberson is doing live video streaming of interviews with his fellow members of the House during today's vote on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. You have to wonder what his colleagues think when they see John coming....

This morning, the Obama campaign sent out an email to its supporters urging them to watch an "important announcement" that "he wanted you to hear first." The news? As expected by many observers, Obama has decided to opt out of the presidential public financing system for the general election. Instead of taking approximately $85 million in public funds and agreeing to stop raising money and abide by that spending limit, he has chosen to rely on his gigantic donor base, which currently numbers 1.5 million individuals. It's important to take note of how Obama is framing this decision. He says he's a supporter of "robust" public financing systems (and indeed this is true going back to his days in Illinois state...

We're in the final stretch to the start of Personal Democracy Forum 2008, and the buzz keeps building. If you're blogging about coming to the event, use the tag pdf2008; on Twitter we're going with the hashtag #pdf2008. It's not too late to register, and if you're already registered, you can start connecting with your fellow participants by using all the social networking tools provided on pdf2008.confabb.com. We're pleased to announce a few more fantastic speakers are joining us: * Gina Cooper, the executive director of Netroots Nation, will be joining our final plenary on leadership in a networked age. * Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein will be speaking on Day Two on the power of information to transform government. * Sean Parker, the...

We're pleased to be bringing back the "Idea Market" session to PdF this year, as last year it was one of the conference highlights. It's basically a "flea market" for ideas. Picture a large room with all kinds of interesting people hosting discussions based at tables scattered around the room, and attendees "voting with their feet" and sampling the topics, or hanging around one table for the full session to go deep on one subject. This year it'll be happening on Day Two of PdF, from 3:45-5:00pm, in The Allen Room, a spectacular hall overlooking Central Park. And here's the list of topics and hosts: Place ...

Have we spotted (or started) a trend? Now, after my story on Rep. John Culberson's Twittering from the House floor, "CrackBerry Addicts vs Twittering Sunlighters," Rep. Tim Ryan has just tweeted that he is "getting ready to twitter from the House floor." This is so cute. "It's like watching a child learning to go to the toilet on their own. 'Look, ma, I'm twittering!'" Seriously, my understanding is that CongressTwitters are in violation of a House rule prohibiting the usage of electronic wireless devices from inside the chamber. Tell that to the Crackberry users...

Here's a tale of two radically different uses of technology on Capitol Hill: the first to keep all but the most-connected people out, and the second to let the rest of us in. In the first case, we have Members of Congress who are crack-berry addicts staying in permanent contact with their cronies and donors, even on the floor where lobbyists are supposedly banned. And in the second case, we have a Republican Congressman who is Twittering from what he calls the "deepest and darkest hole" in Congress. Case one: Today's Politico has a fascinating story called "Are Members Blackberry addicts?" that describes how seven out of ten Members of Congress and staffers use the ubiquitous handheld devices to keep...

OMG, it looks like my partner and techPresident/PdF co-founder Andrew Rasiej has broken his promise to me to never run for office again! He keeps saying, what if a candidate got into the race and promised to only run powered by the net. I keep telling him he's crazy. But look at this: Go here to play the news report. Not sure why I can't embed the clip....