A Silicon Valley-Washington DC conversation

Robert,

Looking forward to seeing you at the Wednesday night get together!

I am hosting my own event on Tuesday night in DC and would love you to come if you can squeeze it in!

Saul Colt
Head of Magic
FreshBooks!

Okay, I get it. You don’t like President Bush and think it’s funny to call the election a regime change as if he won two elections by putting tanks in front of the White House. Hil-flippin-arious.

It you truly want a regime change, I guess you better bring your pitchfork to DC. You can start with Pelosi and go from there.

BTW: It’s cool that you get to go to DC and represent the geeks. Can you be objective? I highly doubt it.

I totally agree w/ Christopher on this. Are you one of those that belive in the whole “King George” crap that people throw aobut? I’ve always liked that you have tried to keep your political views out of your blog posts, but this one takes the cake.

Will you try and talk with any members of the current administration? Will you focus on just those who deal with the political ideals you hold? Will we see a converstation between both parties?

When you talk with the FCC will you mention how silly their new idea to deal with the cost of opt-ing out of cell phone contracts is? You know being forced to read and initial every part of the contract before getting the cell phone?

One of the other things that “geeks” should talk with their politicians about is the idea of monopolies of cable companys in thier cities and districts that are stiffiling competition.

Also can somone explain to me who has time to watch all of these videos? Is there a point in these converstations? Who has time to be on Qik, Kyte.tv, friendfeed, etc all day long?

Very cool Scoble! My question is how do the politicians keep updated with new technology. Do they have a tech advisor on their staff? Do they rely on relations with companies? Are there technology decisions affected by lobbyists from those companies?

The Members who are meeting with Robert are the ones who said yes. We’ll still talk to anyone who wants to talk. You might be surprised at who you see.

The Members who are meeting with Robert are the ones who said yes. We’ll still talk to anyone who wants to talk. You might be surprised at who you see.

Jonathan: I have a lot of people watching those videos. They don’t all watch everyone, though.

As for my objectivity. I’m not objective. I’m very happy to see George go. That said, I’m not anti-Republican, either, and we’ll be looking to speak with anyone who is doing something interesting with technology, or working on technology issues or issues that affect the technology industry. Newt Gingrinch is someone we want to interview, for instance, because of his work on e-Government.

Also, there’s a chance we’ll get into the White House. I know a few people there, and will be fair if given a chance to interview anyone in the current administration. I’m more interested in their views of what will change after they are out, though. I’m sure they’ll have something interesting to say on that topic.

I lived and worked in Washington, DC for 13 months. I’ve since moved back home. It’s a nice place to visit, and I wish Robert luck with his plans and meetings, but these are professional, life-long politicians we’re talking about here – they’ll squirm out of any question, soft or hard, old media or new media.

Re Jonathan’s second comment: I agree. Who really has the time to be on Qik, Kyte.tv, etc, etc, etc, all day long?

I know someone in Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s office. I believe she’s Silicon Valley. Let me know if you are interested in trying to score a meeting!

Washington is an important area, but it’s still not overly exciting.

Shana: I’d love to meet Zoe Lofgren. Would love a connection. rscoble@fastcompany.com

David: who has time to watch TV all night long? Lots of people do.

I watch things that get on my radar screens (IE, my friends/fans/family tell me they are interesting). That’s one reason I watch FriendFeed so much. It’s very interesting to see what people tell me to watch over there. It almost always is worth spending my time when they send stuff my way.

To give credit where credit is due, I want to thank Robert for talking about FriendFeed. It encouraged me to sign up and see what the buzz was all about.

I may not have time to watch TV, online or cable, all day or all night, but as long as someone can ‘feed’ me some links to good, valuable, insightful material, I will watch, one way or the other. Another reason why I cannot be online all day long streaming audio and video: My ISP sets limits on my download and upload activities. Bummer. Now there’s something I’d love to discuss with my Canadian politicians!!

Good luck in Washington, Robert.

Robert, you should really try to speak with Ed Markey. He is far and away the most influential House member when it comes to technology related issues.

Pelosi obviously is and will continue to be very influential, but Markey is the key, and is also a really smart guy.

I think Andrew is absolutely right that there’s a surprising lack of communication between tech bloggers and the politicians who have, in many ways, just as much influence over the way the internet will be shaped over the next ten years.

I’m glad to see you take an interest in the space, and I hope you get some good conversations started. I’ll be tuned in.

Gabe: you don’t happen to know Ed, do you? I’d love to be connected with him by someone who knows him. Agree, though, that he’d be great to interview.

David, it may help if journalists in this country actually took their jobs seriously in terms of informing the public. Seriously, listen to Radio4′s today programme sometime and compare it to those in the US.

I’d be curious what the real knowledge level in Congress is of the innovation that goes on in Silicon Valley, especially since the “Tubes” descriptpion of the Internet. How do people who don’t USE a technology think they can make laws about it? I’d like to know how they can possibly legislate on, for example, net neutrality. Or copyright. And to whom do they turn for guidance on these issues?

Lobbyists? There are plenty of tech lobbyists, but don’t they represent only the large players? Who represents the startups, the entrepreneurs? I think innovation is underrepresented in Washington.

Just a quick note for Full Disclosure ™: I am also a reporter for Warren’s Washington Internet Daily.

Well, first things first–I strongly recommend you eat a crabcake sandwich at the “Market Lunch” inside the (temporary) Eastern Market building at 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue SE (near there). It’s delicious and worth the trip. A true Washington institution. You can get a chicken sandwich if you’re not a crab fan. They’re also good.

Second, you might try to score an interview with one of the top ‘political’ bloggers in DC and talk about their work (from a tech angle perhaps). Political blogging is a very rough and tumble world and I’m sure some of them have some hate mail that would scare you to death.

I think it might also be interesting to point out ‘when tech bloggers go political.’ You know how everyone made fun of Sen. Stevens ‘tube’ speech and how it showed he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about when it comes to technology. Well, in DC when a lot of tech bloggers go off on a tangent about some politics, it often comes across just as amateurish and uninformed. Perhaps some of the political bloggers could give you more insight on that.

While I know your trip is focused on politics, you might consider visiting the NVTC (Northern Virginia Tech Council) which is sort of an umbrella group helping out the companies along the ‘Dulles Toll Road’. You’ll see the signs on the side of the buildings and you’ll probably feel some familiarity (Cisco, Microsoft, AOL, etc). Or head up I270 in Maryland along the bio-tech corridor and talk to the Human Genome group and others up there.

Hey, the gang from TechLiberationFront would be delighted to fill any holes in your schedule, and some of us we’ll certainly come to the Wednesday gig. (Recommended: upstairs at the Science Club – 1136 19th St., NW – call ahead with approximate numbers and they’ll hold the room for you) TLF is a masochistic group that generally doesn’t like politicians, but we hang out with them all the time and breathe the same air. (Eeeuuww. Eeuuww.) We can help translate into reality the sweet nothings, bromides, and platitudes that you hear from the politicians and their staffs.

Sorry Robert. I don’t have any connections to Ed, but I have little doubt that his Comm. Director/Press Secretary would jump at the chance to schedule an interview with you.

Looking forward to reading about these meetings.

“Decide whether universities get funded” ???? Uh…what the he’ll are you talking about. I didn’t know the U.S. had a National University. Last I checked our universities are private or STATE public universities. They rely more on donations for the research issues you are talking about.

You have your regime change position backwards. If B. Hussein Obamessiah wins we will be living under a regime where the Fed Govt. will be involved in every aspect of our lives and making decisions for us.

Good luck trying to move the technology ball in D.C. Better come with lots of money to be willing to spend on their current or upcoming election campaigns. Unless they think you can help them stay in office, all you will get from them is rhetoric. Gotta admire your naive idealism. It’s adorable on a number of levels.