Geodog

Should geeks get involved in the political process?

I like Declan McCullagh's work a lot. He runs a fantastic moderated mailing list, Politech. Very Highly Recommended. He did a great job the last few years as Wired's Washington Bureau Chief, reporting on all the ways that politicians were trying to cope with and frequently stifle technological change.  His point of view tends to be very libertarian. He looks like he is about 25, lucky guy. Mostly he is just smart and hard working. He just moved over to Cnet, where his byline has been a lot less visible, but he just wrote a column, Geeks in government: A good idea? arguing that geeks shouldn't bother trying to get politically involved. He thinks it is a waste of time. Instead geeks should spend their time trying to change the facts on the ground - i.e. writing software that changes the reality of what is out there. He gives the inventors of PGP and Napster as examples.

I haven't decided what I think of his arguement. Politics and technology have often gone hand-in -hand, each influencing the other in turn. Where would computers and computer science and the internet be without politics, the cold war, and DARPA paying for most of the basic research? And in turn, these days technology makes a lot of money, and that is what runs our political process. That's why high tech companies can tell their shareholders one thing and the tax man something totally different about stock options.

I suppose it comes down to the individual geek. Clearly, technology companies don't care a lot about individual liberties - otherwise we wouldn't have the draconian laws that have been passed in the last few years. Certainly companies like Oracle, far from defending civil lberties, are scurrying to profit from the assault on civil liberties.

MORE TOMORROW.