PoliticsBlog: July 2006 Archives

« June 2006 | Main | August 2006 »

July 31, 2006

Investigating Chile's Internet Activism

Mary Joyce is the editor for Demologue.com and is currently living and researching in Chile.

Mary Joyce, a digital activism advocate and creator of Demologue.com, is currently in Chile investigating the country's vibrant digital activism culture and blogging her findings at her blog, DemoBlog. "Why," asks Mary in the first post of her series, "is this country such a hot-bed of internet-based activism? More importantly, how can the Chilean experience inform grassroots internet activism in other countries?" Mary goes on to describe how ordinary Chilean citizens are using internet-based tools like blogs, websites, and photo-sharing programs to raise awareness about social causes, organize protests, and form communities of action-oriented citizens. She is also profiling leading figures in the Chilean blogosphere and posting translations of digital activism campaigns and manifestos. The series of posts will continue through August.

Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 28, 2006

Let the (Online) Smear Campaigns Begin!

ImpeachPAC has unveiled the progressive blogosphere's first attack ad.

In the closely-watched Democratic primary battle between incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman and his progressive challenger Ned Lamont, attack ads have found their way onto the internet.

IPAC has issued both a written internet ad and a YouTube video asserting that Lieberman, along with other Republican officials, has interests in keeping extremists (such as professed Neo-Nazi Robert Lee West) in the military.

Some viewers have expressed discontent with the style of the ad:

Wallymar: I'm all for Ted Lamont winning this race with Lieberman and there are many ways to make a good supporting case. This is not one of them and I doubt that Ted Lamont would approve of this message.

And so the ever so popular smear campaign finds its way into the internet world. I anticipate this will be the first of many to come in the 2006 race.

View the Ad

View the YouTube Video

Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 27, 2006

Democracy at Your Fingertips

Mobile Voter’s current project, TxtVoter ’06, seeks to register voters across the country for the 2006 election.

Mobile Voter is a non-profit non-partisan organization that seeks to facilitate the process of civic participation via mobile technology. Over the past two years Mobile Voter has engaged in several innovative campaigns to register young voters. Examples of organizations using the service include Voto Latino and Working Assets.
Because nearly 80 percent of Americans own a cell phone and 63 percent send text messages regularly TxtVoter makes it possible to register to vote without a computer or the Internet. All you have to do to text “Voter” to 75444.
TxtVoter also provides the opportunity for non-profits and political campaigns to create their own drive to register new voters. Campaigns can send customized texts and online postcards to give new voters a friendly reminder to vote on election day.
"Mobility, affinity and immediacy are a way of life for this age group. By reflecting this lifestyle, TxtVoter aims to sustain the 2004 increase in young voters and get even more to turn out in 2006," said Grace Stanat, co-executive director of Mobile Voter.

Posted by Buzz Webster at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 24, 2006

CIA Blogger gets the Boot

Christine Axsmith, a contract employee working for the C.I.A.was fired for posting a message on Intelink, a classified computer network used by American intelligence agencies.

Axsmith criticized the interrogation technique called “waterboarding,” a particularly harsh practice that the C.I.A. is known to have used where the detainee feels as if they are drowning. Axsmith said that she believed that the classified blogs were supposed to be a critical tool to allow C.I.A. employees, who are often prohibited from discussing their work even with other agency officials, to vent frustrations.

C.I.A. spokesman, Paul Gimigliano, said that the blogs were created to “encourage collaboration” on business issues but that postings “should relate directly to the official business of the author and readers of the Web site.”

Related Articles:

C.I.A. Worker Says Message on Torture Got Her Fired

Top-Secret World Loses Blogger

CIA Needs Refresher Course on Blogs

Posted by Buzz Webster at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 21, 2006

Indian Blogs get Unblocked

More than 18 blog outlets across India were blocked this week, coinciding with the aftermath of the Mumbai bombings.

Bloggers reacted with anger and confusion accusing the government of censorship and a violation of constitutional rights. Instructions on bypassing the block were quickly posted on Wiki called Bypassing the Ban in . Also a Web site, India Censored, was created to focus on this issue. Some bloggers were even threatening to take the Indian Government to the Indian Supreme Court over infringement on constitutional rights.

Bloggers can now breathe a sigh of relief, as government officials have announced that the block is a "technological error" the government is working to repair.

Related Articles:

Indian Web Users Decry the "Gag" on Blogs

Blocks Blogs in Wake of Mumbai Bombings

Admits 'Technological Error' in Blog Blockade

Posted by Buzz Webster at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 18, 2006

Blogging "On the Brink" of War

As the Middle East sits on the brink of a humanitarian disaster citizens turn to the Blogosphere to express their opinions.

In Lebanon and Israel, bombing campaigns have damaged the infrastructure and power sources of the countries' major cities, but citizens and onlookers have continued to turn to the Internet for support, to communicate with friends and family members, and to share their perspectives.

During an extremely controversial International crisis, an online petition has also been created for Internet users to their show support for innocent Lebanese citizens.

Many Middle Eastern bloggers echo the sentiment of how hard is to truly understand this crisis from a TV halfway across the world. The Internet and the Blogosphere create a forum that allows citizens to communicate the true tragedy of this crisis. Check out what some bloggers and citizens have to say at Global Voices Online and the BBC’s Voices from the conflict, and view onlooker photos at the BBC's In Pictures.

Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 17, 2006

Bloggers Deride Senator Stevens

"The Internet is not something you just dump something on. It's not a truck. It's a series of tubes," said Sen. Ted Stevens during a June 28 committee session. Stevens will not soon live down the ridicule in the blogosphere for his explanation of how the Internet works.

For better or worse, Sen. Steven's speech has been the talk of the blogosphere, but now the attention has been focused not on the content of the speech, but on the mysterious disappearance of the speech turned parody song from MySpace. The Washington Post reports:

"Andrew Raff -- a self-described "underemployed law graduate" in Brooklyn with an interest in the Internet and intellectual property -- set the words of Stevens's jeremiad to a folky tune. Raff created a page called the "Ted Stevens Internet Fan Club" and posted the song there.Three days later, Raff got an e-mail from the MySpace administrator, saying the song had been removed because of a violation of My Space's terms of service...One of MySpace's many monitors found the "Ted Stevens Internet Fan Club," saw there was a song on it and assumed copyright violation. Without further investigation, the page was taken down and the e-mail violation notice was sent to Raff...

Alerted to this, MySpace checked out the situation, found the mistake and reposted the song at http://www.myspace.com/tedstevensfanclub ."

Read more:

Bloggers Heap Derision on Stevens

Protecting a Senator? Or Just Enforcing Copyright Law?

Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 14, 2006

Bombay Bombing Blogs

India’s financial capital was shocked by a series of bombs set off on the Western Railway in Mumbai. Immediately, friends and family began to search for their loved ones only to find jammed phone lines, unreliable cellphone service, and rejected SMS messages.

Mumbai Help was established last year to assist those in crises after the flooding in Mumbai. After the disaster on Tuesday, over 6,000 people visited the Web site for traffic information, to search the comprehensive list of names of those suspected injured or missing (the list is a wiki that can be updated by anyone), to receive updates on the rail situation, and to find help-line numbers.

The main blog conveys a sense of camaraderie amongst strangers that brings chills to the outside reader. Anxiety-ridden family members, many located outside of India, plea for those with better access to phone services to call or SMS their lost ones for them to ensure that they are safe. Juxtaposed with an obviously ugly tragedy, this blog is a truly beautiful thing.

Eyewitness photos can be found at Now Public and Flickr. Also, check out the blogs on Global Voices Online and Metroblogging Mumbai.

Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 12, 2006

Nevada: Not Just Another Opinion Poll

Daniel Rosen, a candidate for the second congressional district of Nevada, hopes to win his seat with the help of Nevada Vote Direct.

Nevada Vote Direct is a breaking digital technology that allows constituents of the district to register and vote on a full range of issues without restriction or limitation simply by logging on the Net. And get this…. Rosen pledges to vote in Congress exactly as the citizens of his district have voted online via the Vote Direct website.

Polls are open all day everyday and voters may also choose to vote via secure telephone line. Membership is to open to all voters in the district and voting is a right not a requirement. This system aims to allow citizens to exercise control over how their representative in Congress votes on legislation.

Nevada Vote Direct marks a milestone in the history of political campaigns and the Internet. This voting system is the first application of digital technology designed to make the government responsive to its citizens.

Check out the press release:

Congressional Candidate Makes History with Nevada Vote Direct

Posted by Buzz Webster at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 10, 2006

YouTube Gets Political

With the advent of YouTube, a popular do it yourself video Web site, control of political advertisements is being wrestled away from candidates and into the hands of anyone with a camcorder and solid computer skills.

An average of 60,000 videos per day are added to YouTube, and 80 million videos are viewed each day. The site, which is less than two years old, is free to both viewers and contributors. Increasingly, YouTube is going political. The Washington Post found a number of amature political ads from both sides of the aisle, as well as song parodies and comic collections of clips. A search for "George Bush" came up with nearly 2,000 video results. Users can also join MySpace-esque "groups," some of which are political in nature.

YouTube may also become a free advertising site for more official campaigns: Political campaigns have been known to put up their own ads and speeches on the site. Tech-savvy former vice-presidential candidate John Edwards has his own "channel," a collection of videos compiled by a single contributor.

In YouTube Clips, a Political Edge

Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 07, 2006

U.S. Campaigns Go Mobile

After achieving success abroad in nations from France to South Korea, text messaging is catching on in the U.S. as a method of mobilizing the public.

At least two politicians - John Edwards and Rick Santorum - have launched text message campaigns.

Both candidates are inviting supporters to register online in order to receive text messages from them. Edwards’s supporters can sign up at his One America site; Santorum’s can find information on how to sign up on his Web site, although at present Santorum’s SMS efforts are targeted at women’s outreach efforts. Santorum and Edwards have both said that they plan to use the technology to send issue-based messages.

While proponents of SMS argue that it is a good way to maintain ongoing contact with busy constituents, some analysts worry that the strategy may prove to be too expensive to attract anyone other than core supporters. But if it is successful for Edwards and Santorum, SMS technologies may be used in get out the vote efforts, and citizens may even be able to donate to campaigns via their cell phones.

Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 05, 2006

Survivors of London Bombings Reach Out Online

One year later, survivors of the July 7, 2005 London subway bombings are turning to the Internet for support. Many are reaching out to others via blogs and online forums.

Rachel North, a leader in the effort, said that keeping an online journal of her experiences has been cathartic. North’s blog has approximately 150,000 readers worldwide. A fellow survivor-cum-blogger, Holly Finch writes that she started her blog, Am I Still Me? in an effort to “understand the person I’ve become” in the wake of the bombings. North and Finch received only minor injuries, but witnessed the deaths of 25 passengers on the same Piccadilly line.

Survivors are also taking advantage of the support group King's Cross United named for the tube in which over 100 people were injured. The group has an online forum at Urban 75 London.

Finally, survivors are leading an online call for a comprehensive investigation by the British government into the London bombings. Their online petition currently boasts more than 900 signatures.

Blogs Reveal London Survivors' Pain

Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)