The Day the Internet Didn’t Fight Back
"By late Tuesday, some 70,000 calls had been placed to legislators and roughly 150,000 people had sent their representatives an email."<p>What was to be expected?  The offices of my Senators and Representatives were swamped all day with phone calls.<p>The author keeps paying lip-service to the comparison of this effort to SOPA/PIPA --- which was entirely different.  Those bills were a direct challenge to the internet as we knew it, and everyone (including the big players) moved in to participate.  That protest was about two game-changing bills with votes on the floor (all other paths for success had failed - if you're Google,Wikipedia, etc); this protest was about the status quo.<p>Our elected officials heard us today - from seemingly nowhere, that the <i>status quo</i> isn't acceptable.  The verbiage directly called the kettle black on the supposed "FISA Reform Bill," reminding politicians that the powder is dry if head too far off course.  And that (IMHO) makes a big statement.<p>I felt the post was unjustifiably negative[/defeatist] with a link bait title and lame observations.  It <i>would be great</i> to see Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc. play a larger role and "see the bigger picture"-- especially given that companies like Microsoft have officially recognized dragnet surveillance as an "advanced persistent threat." [0]  Again, it would be great, but it can't be <i>necessary</i>.  We want their help, but we cannot <i>need</i> it.<p>PS - It's defeatist to say the following: "internet protests will never change anything in Washington."<p>"The Powerbroker," a Pulitzer-Prize winning biography praised by Aaron Swartz [1], conveys the following two lessons with regards to affecting change in government:  1.) the only thing which matters (from the perspective of a common man) is raising the political stakes in every manner possible, forcing the issue into the court of public opinion where politicians must pick sides in a very public affair.  2.) The <i>other things</i> which matter are in conversations which you are not a part of. . . ... dig in.  This is a minor skirmish in a long war (of attrition) against the Est..<p>[0] - <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/5/5177554/microsoft-plans-server-encryption-against-nsa-snooping" rel="nofollow">http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/5/5177554/microsoft-plans-se...</a>
[1] - <a href="https://zolabooks.com/list/aaron-swartz-reading-list/1" rel="nofollow">https://zolabooks.com/list/aaron-swartz-reading-list/1</a>