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Both can be effective. Boycotting simply brings about change by proxy, since it can prompt companies to use their legal counsel to lobby for changes. If there i
by malandrew 13y ago
Both can be effective. Boycotting simply brings about change by proxy, since it can prompt companies to use their legal counsel to lobby for changes. If there is one thing citizens have learned, it's that lobbyists are more effective than citizens because many of those in congress are lazy enough to accept bills written by others and pass it off as their own.
Personally, I think every bill that goes to congress should be written by the congressmen and women and their staff and not by any outside agencies and consultants. Showing that a law was not written by those that were elected should invalidate the law.
- declan 13y agoExcept that advocacy groups the HN crowd generally likes also draft legislation for the congresscritters to introduce. Here's the Electronic Frontier Foundation's draft bill -- "Initial Improvements to Aaron's Law for Computer Crime Reform" -- from earlier this year: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/effs-initial-improvements-aarons-law-computer-crime-reform https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/01/effs-initial-improveme... BTW I'm hosting an event in SF with EFF on this topic later this month. On July 22. Details TK. Point is the writing-the-bills issue (and even the reading-the-bills issue) is a symptom of the problem, not the actual problem itself.
- Amadou 13y agoI think that is an acceptable price to pay for the benefit of requiring our representative to at least understand the issue enough to restate it in their own words. That's the rule I have for my kids, if they claim they understand what I'm telling them, I require them to state it back to me in their own words. Seems like a reasonable expectation of the people hired to represent us.