January 19, 2007
US Political Bloggers - Criminals?
US political bloggers could be forced to register with the government or face criminal penalties up to one year in jail.
An organization called GrassRootsFreedom.com is reporting that the U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would require political bloggers with readership over 500 to register as lobbyists. Section 220 of S. 1, the lobbying reform bill before the Senate, would require grassroots causes, even bloggers, who communicate with the public on policy matters, to register and report quarterly to Congress, as lobbyists are required.
"Section 220 would amend existing lobbying reporting law by creating the most expansive intrusion on First Amendment rights ever," Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of GrassrootsFreedom.com said.
For the first time in history, he stated, critics of Congress will need to register and report with Congress itself.
Sign the Petition Against Section 220
Political Bloggers Could Be Required To Register Or Face Jail Time
Congress Preparing to Criminalize Critics?
Bloggers Who Criticize Government May Face Prison
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
September 14, 2005
Google Earth - A Threat to Democracy?
Is Google Earth a threat to international security, or is it not telling us anything we didn't already know? Nations and the media weigh in...
Thailand, the Netherlands and other countries have expressed their concern over information available on Google Earth.
The Federal Government of the United States admits there are privacy and possibly security concerns about Google Earth, an internet service which allows any computer user to zoom in on satellite image of their own or someone else's backyard.
But Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said Google Earth really didn't add to information already in the public domain. The government would act if it thought it or other web services posed a security risk, he said.
Google Earth Threatens Democracy
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/13/google_earth_threatens_democracy/
No additional risk from Google Earth: Ruddock
Google Earth becomes a Cause of Concern for Thai Security Agencies
Dutch politicians say Google Earth images help terrorists
http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=9618
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 28, 2005
International Symposium on Local e-Democracy
The agenda for the International Symposium on Local e-Democracy has now been finalised.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 22, 2005
International Symposium On Local E-Democracy
The International Symposium on Local E-Democracy is a dynamic conference exploring leading e-democracy trends around the world.
From our good friend Steven Clift: July 26-27, 2005 - Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA The International Symposium on Local E-Democracy is a dynamic conference exploring leading e-democracy trends around the world. The next day, a field trip to the "wired" chambers of the Minnesota State Legislature and Northfield, Minnesota's community blogging efforts along with traveling color commentary will bring one of birthplaces of "e-democracy" to life. This is the world's first international conference focused specifically on local e-democracy. We expect representatives of a number of government, non-profit, research, and civic organisations to attend. If you are interested in improving governance and citizen participation in the information age, this conference is for you. The symposium is sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the United Kingdom and the UK Local e-Democracy National Project along with other partners. * Register Today or by July 15 - Full Conference Details
Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
May 24, 2005
Issues Forums In The UK.
Free public event focused on Issues Forums in the UK.
Issues Forum Event 2:00 - 5:00 p.m., Monday, June 6 (Optional session on e-democracy best practices starts at 1 p.m.) Conference Rooms One and Two Local Government Association Local Government House Smith Square London SW1 3HZ RSVP from:
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Adopt A Chinese Blog
Isaac Mao has announced the Adopt a Chinese blog program.
Bloggers in other countries can now help Chinese bloggers avoid censorship by hosting their blogs.
There’s now a temp project site on jot about "Adopt A Chinese Blog" program, and now a temp logo attached to the project, too. Some more tag related stuffs on technorati (adoptablog) and del.icio.us (adoptablog) will surely appear soon. (Hat tip Global Voices)
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
May 19, 2005
Pushing Power To The Edges
An important report focused in large part on online advocacy, non-profits, and the role of philanthropy was recently released.
Steven Clift recommends folks read it:http://evolvefoundation.org/?q=pacesummary
Clift - This line caught my eye:
"The key to understanding online civic engagement is not to focus on
the latest tool or even the latest tactic. Rather, the key is to
recognize that engaging people and organizations in this new
environment requires new ways of thinking and new organizational
models in order to build a more informed and engaged citizenry."
While my use own use the term "online civic engagement" tends to first focus on the need for democratic online applications that bring citizens (and
advocates) together online who hold different perspectives, online education for advocacy has a huge potential in the 501.c3 (tax-exempt non-profit world).
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
May 17, 2005
GroupServer To Power The E-democracy Decade
Steven Clift is on to something extraordinary
From Clift:
For almost eight years we've waited for an online tool that we can use on our own site that combines e-mail and web forums in a truly accessible and usable manner.
The wait is over:
http://e-democracy.org/groupserver - Includes 20 minute video tour http://groupserver.org - Official site
GroupServer is a new social software platform for online groups. In short, GroupServer is a smart e-mail list combined with a simple web forum. The website for an online group supports the forum with file sharing, a member directory, and other group features.
It is a unified, free/open source database-driven tool that Minnesota-based http://E-Democracy.Org/uk helped extend using New Zealand-based GroupServer with funding from the UK Local E-Democracy National Project/ODPM. This is clearly a global effort.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 08:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 16, 2005
European Review Of Political Technologies
There's a new report available on Political Technologies.
From a list I'm on:
I am pleased to share with you our inaugural volume of the European Review of Political Technologies (ERPT) Governance and Democracy in Cyberspace [http://www.politech-institute.org/review.asp].
ERPT is a unique pan-European periodical and instrument bridging the converging domains of Political Technologies: ePolitics, eDemocracy, eParticipation, eDiplomacy, eCitizenship, eGovernance and eGovernment.
Each issue is divided into 3 sections, namely Research and Policy Shaping, Case Studies and Technological Demonstrations and Current Debates to provide readers with a wide range of perspectives from leading stakeholders. Our ERPT Honorary and Scientific Committee is composed of renowned international and European experts, practitioners, leaders and public officials. Peruse the current volume.
Our upcoming volume eCampaigns, with editorial by Mr. Andre Santini, former French Minister, Member of the French National Assembly, Mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux and President of Global Cities Dialogue, will be published on our website in June 2005.
We would be pleased to receive your perspectives on Governance and Democracy in Cyberspace and other issues concerning political technologies in your arena to be published in future volumes in addition to your thematic suggestions, abstracts and articles that contribute to ERPT's primary objective and scope. Please view ERPT submission guidelines.
Please feel free to refer this message to colleagues and other interested parties.
Best regards,
Daniel van Lerberghe
President and Executive Director
POLITECH Institute
EuropeanCenter of Political Technologies
This first volume Governance and Democracy in Cyberspace explores how ICT is enhancing representative democracy and public governance. Europe's challenges for the XXIst century, emphasized by the EU recently revised Lisbon Agenda, to boost
Europe's competitiveness and innovation, central drivers to build a knowledge based economy and the new EU Constitutional Treaty, setting the political and democratic stage of the new European polity; have both fostered good governance and democracy as key enablers for success.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 13, 2005
Online Interview With Steven Clift
Steven Clift, e-democracy strategist and public speaker, talks with PoliticsOnline about the UK Local Issues Forum and the impact of the internet on the upcoming election.
Audio and Transcipt available. Click here for the interview.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
March 24, 2005
Doors To Diplomacy
Contributing Editor Bob Pyke passed on some important youth news:
Doors to Diplomacy 2005 - an online project design competition to raise awareness about foreign diplomacy issues is in need of reviewers.
[ADDITIONAL REVIEWERS NEEDED - PLEASE HELP US GET THE WORD OUT] SEEKING VOLUNTEER REVIEWERS for CyberFair & Doors to Diplomacy:
If you would like to be an Independent Reviewer (and you are not already a CyberFair participant), please sign up now to become a reviewer for: International Schools CyberFair 2005 - Prepare & Unite an online project design competition that focuses on the future.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
February 18, 2005
I Forgot Poland
PoliticsOnline subscriber Jerzy Celichowski (Former President of Poland Active on Internet Forums) recently emailed to inform us that we have been neglecting ePolitics outside of Western countries.
To make up for the gap I'm posting a blurb that Jerzy sent us regarding some very interesting eActivism taking place in Poland:
Lech Walesa, the legend of the Solidarity movement and the former president of Poland, has recently staged a minor comeback through active participation in discussion forums of the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza. Using nickname of "lwprezydent" Walesa has commented on several articles published by the paper. When this was noticed and publicised by the editors of Gazeta, his e-mail account was flooded by messages by internauts.
Walesa is using the internet to present his views on the recently hot topic of the former communist secret police agents. An open letter addressed to a right-wing catholic radio, which he had written outraged by a program by the radio on former agents, published in Gazeta attracted a record number of comments. lwprezydent followed the discussion posting his reactions to some of them. "I am an active internaut" he told the paper. "I know a thing or two about computers, noone is helping me. I am using a laptop" he added.
Thank you Jerzy, and with help from readers like you I think we can do a better job of searching the globe more for interesting ePolitics in ALL countries.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 08:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
February 07, 2005
Call For e-Democracy White Papers
REVISED CALL FOR WHITE PAPERS in conjunction with dg.o2005, The National Conference on Digital Government Research for an International Research Workshop on Operational e-Democracy Research: Cross-National, Multi-Method, Interdisciplinary Studies of Digital Government Final copies must be submitted via the dg.o website by February 18, 2005. http://dgrc.org/dgo2005/program/workshops/shulman_wrapped.jsp Background Electronic democracy (e-democracy) is attracting considerable policy, technology and academic attention. At a policy level, experiments range from e-voting to attempts to improve citizen deliberation through on-line discussion groups. Technological solutions for enhancing the functioning of contemporary democracies have been proposed by both public and private actors. Academic attention has focused on a range of issues, from attempts to address the security issues associated with e-voting to empirical analyses of different deliberative experiments and the formulation of normative theory-driven analyses. However, the interdisciplinary study of e-democracy suffers from three main problems: 1. Translating Traditional Problems of Democracy Democracy is not a settled concept. The tools and techniques of e-democracy implicitly articulate particular democratic values and favour particular approaches to democracy. Yet most studies of e-democracy leave these values implicit, assuming them to be given normative preferences rather than inherently ambiguous and negotiated ideals. For e-democracy to be properly studied it is necessary to develop specific conceptualisations and new analytical frameworks that help academics from various disciplines test theories about the impact of the new digital landscape. Research on democracy must take into account core democratic principles for developing new methods that both focus on and involve the latest information and communications technologies research. 2. Identifying Empirical Limitations and Opportunities While discussions of e-democracy have existed for several years now, the real application of them is relatively new. Consequently, empirical studies are unable to analyse the long term effects of particular e-democracy interventions or instruments. To resolve this problem, it is necessary to design multi-method approaches that can test newly translated theories and models of e-democracy. At present, empirical studies are too concerned with reporting existing achievements rather than testing coherent, theory-driven hypotheses. 3. Building a Coherent Research Agenda Different disciplines are concerned with different problems in the area of e-democracy. At the same time, however, these problems cut across each other. It is only by careful construction of a proper interdisciplinary framework that it will be possible to build a coherent and mutually beneficial research agenda. Target Audience U.S. and European scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, different empirical traditions, and theoretical orientations are invited to participate in a half-day workshop (Sunday May 15, 2005, from 8 am ? 12 pm) to collaboratively build a research agenda for future cross-national, multi- method, interdisciplinary studies of e-democracy. White Paper Instructions Participants in the workshop are required to submit a 2-page, single-spaced White Paper addressing the workshop theme: Operational e-Democracy Research: Cross-National, Multi-Method, Interdisciplinary Studies of Digital Government. Participants must address at least one of the three problems highlighted above. Specifically, the White Papers should discuss the types of emerging Digital Government research problems that the author feels are amenable to international dg.o-style research projects. White Papers for this workshop should seek to identify opportunities for, and barriers to, cross-national, interdisciplinary studies at the intersection of social, computer, and information sciences. No citations are required. Rather, these papers ought to be written in the visionary mode, with a clear recognition that the various disciplines represented are tough to fit together. Final copies must be submitted via the dg.o website by February 18, 2005. http://dgrc.org/dgo2005/program/workshops/shulman_wrapped.jsp Workshop Chair & Contact Person Dr. Stuart W. Shulman (Shulman@pitt.edu) Assistant Professor School of Information Sciences Graduate School of Public and International Affairs Senior Research Associate University Center for Social and Urban Research University of Pittsburgh, 121 University Place, Suite 600 Pittsburgh, PA 15260 412.624.3776 (v) 412.624.4810 (f) http://shulman.ucsur.pitt.edu/ Workshop Fee: $100 US for dg.o2005 registrants & $150 US for non-dg.o2005 registrants
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
January 12, 2005
eDemocrats and eDemocracy
GUEST: Jack O'Toole
In 1994, when that ... that ... Internet thing was just starting to enter the public consciousness in a major way (and PoliticsOnline was still mostly a gleam in Phil Noble's eye), the vast majority of Democratic party activists couldn't have spelled the DNC chairman's name if you'd spotted them the "Davi" and the "ilhelm." Today, virtually every major candidate for the job has a professionally produced website aimed squarely at the party's grassroots, and one (South Carolina native Donnie Fowler) has even started Podcasting to the masses, with the rest almost certain to follow.
That kind of change in only a decade isn't just remarkable, it's revolutionary. And you can bet that we'll be saying the same thing about the changes we're going to see in the next ten years. Because, as the online response to the humanitarian crisis in South Asia has now made clear to us all, this eDemocracy revolution is just getting started.
UPDATE/RELATED: Via Blogswarm, here's DNC hopeful Simon Rosenberg's nine-point plan to "blogify" the Democratic party.
Posted by Jack O'Toole at 09:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
January 08, 2005
Get Local
GUEST: Jack O'Toole
The Personal Democracy Forum is building a directory of state and local political blogs in the US. To learn more about the project, or to recommend a site for inclusion, click here.
Via BuzzMachine.
Posted by Jack O'Toole at 11:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
