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From the available information it sounds like backchanneling or another less charged term, not lobbying. Lobbying isn't some low-caliber word to point at any ol

From the available information it sounds like backchanneling or another less charged term, not lobbying. Lobbying isn't some low-caliber word to point at any old conversation. It has a specific meaning and implications that so far aren't in evidence here.

runesoerensen 4y ago
So you dislike the word lobbying being used here, based on a seemingly pretty specific understanding of what that means. Lobbying can happen in many ways, and have many different implications. It certainly sounds like it didn’t happen as a result of company/executive action (and at least Tavis believes that), and neither parent, gp or ggp claim so (in fact they agree the opposite is the case). I rarely have casual discussions with friends working at regulatory agencies that come back to haunt other people. I also don’t think the word “lobbied” was used in a harmful or particularly egregious way, especially considering the context in which it was used (and explained).
dsr_ 4y ago
Technically, this incident seems to be corruption. When a person employed in the government interacts informally with their friends, relations, acquaintances, the unoffical involvement should stop with "here's the name of the office where you file that complaint" or possibly "my office handles that; send it in through the usual method and I will make sure that I don't work on it". But human nature is to make things a little easier for the people we like or are predisposed to like. That's often harmless. It is sometimes quite the opposite. The "old boys' network" feels good to the participants but is corrosive to fair treatment.
taviso 4y ago
Apologies - I'm not a lawyer or policy expert. Cloudflare personnel asked a friend at the FTC to initiate an investigation into someone they perceived as a critic. If lobbying is not the correct term for that, then I misused it.
- tptacek 4y ago
  That is the correct term.

runesoerensen 4y ago

So you dislike the word lobbying being used here, based on a seemingly pretty specific understanding of what that means. Lobbying can happen in many ways, and have many different implications. It certainly sounds like it didn’t happen as a result of company/executive action (and at least Tavis believes that), and neither parent, gp or ggp claim so (in fact they agree the opposite is the case). I rarely have casual discussions with friends working at regulatory agencies that come back to haunt other people. I also don’t think the word “lobbied” was used in a harmful or particularly egregious way, especially considering the context in which it was used (and explained).

dsr_ 4y ago

Technically, this incident seems to be corruption. When a person employed in the government interacts informally with their friends, relations, acquaintances, the unoffical involvement should stop with "here's the name of the office where you file that complaint" or possibly "my office handles that; send it in through the usual method and I will make sure that I don't work on it". But human nature is to make things a little easier for the people we like or are predisposed to like. That's often harmless. It is sometimes quite the opposite. The "old boys' network" feels good to the participants but is corrosive to fair treatment.

taviso 4y ago

Apologies - I'm not a lawyer or policy expert. Cloudflare personnel asked a friend at the FTC to initiate an investigation into someone they perceived as a critic. If lobbying is not the correct term for that, then I misused it.

tptacek 4y ago
That is the correct term.