A truly great summary of the SOPA issue from CopyBlogger.

C|Net’s SOPA FAQ

Inc. Magazine’s Stand on SOPA.

TPMDC | Talking Points Memo | Virginia GOP Chairman’s Twitter Outreach: Massive Fail

Yesterday the Virginia GOP came very close to taking control of the state Senate, nearly luring a Democratic Senator to switch parties and put them at a 20-20 tie, which would have been broken by the Republican Lt. Governor. Then Jeff Frederick, a state legislator and the party chairman, ruined it all by Twittering this:

“Big news coming out of Senate: Apparently one dem is either switching or leaving the dem caucus. Negotiations for power sharing underway.”

The Democrats saw the message and prevented the person from switching sides.

This only reminds me of the scene from Austin Powers:

Dr. Evil:
All right guard, begin the unnecessarily slow-moving dipping mechanism.

[guard starts dipping mechanism]

Dr. Evil:
Close the tank!

Scott Evil:
Wait, aren’t you even going to watch them? They could get away!

Dr. Evil:
No no no, I’m going to leave them alone and not actually witness them dying, I’m just gonna assume it all went to plan. What?

Scott Evil:
I have a gun, in my room, you give me five seconds, I’ll get it, I’ll come back down here, BOOM, I’ll blow their brains out!

Dr. Evil:
Scott, you just don’t get it, do ya? You don’t.

I’ve also had the privilege of working for Kevin on his annual Supernova conference for the last 2 years.

I am extremely pleased that these two individuals, who I know have very clear ideas on how technology and communications can be used to help all Americans learn and gain access will be in key roles reviewing current policy. I can only hope they also get key roles in the administration. Congratulations, both Kevin and Susan.

Net Neutrality Advocates In Charge Of Obama Team Review of FCC | Threat Level from Wired.com

Susan Crawford, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and Kevin Werbach, a former FCC staffer, organizer of the annual tech conference Supernova, and a Wharton professor, will lead the Obama-Biden transition team’s review of the FCC.

Barack Obama is the first major candidate to decline participation in the public financing system for presidential campaigns. He’s found a more effective way to raise money – by leveraging the power of the American people through online Social Networks. Get the pdf version here.

My US friend Tom Watson of Changing our World and On Philanthropy invited Pamela and I to join a group of friends to meet MP Tom Watson, Cabinet Office Minister from the UK.
MP Watson’s office recently released a report on the Power of Information, documented here in his blog.

Yes, his blog, the archives of which go back to 2003.

Five years ago, I set up political blog. At the time, it was seen as a radical act…People couldn’t believe that I had opened myself up to such scrutiny and occasional daily abuse.But the blog broke down the walls between legislators and electors in a way that interested me. So I persevered.

He’s also got a LastFM badge. This is a real blogger. A gentleman at dinner asked him what he looked at first as far as websites and email, and he started quoting LifeHacker and GTD and how he manages his information flow. This already is different from almost any American Politican I’ve met at any level. He also was impressed I had gone to ITP, since he’s a fan of Clay Shirky.

It is clear that Tom is passionate about helping people get a handle on their information. From the aforementioned blog link:

Today I am going to offer two arguments that I think compliment the Prime Minister’s recent announcement on public service reform.

Firstly, that freeing up data will allow us to unlock the talent British entrepreneurs. And secondly, engaging people – using the simple tools that bring them together – will allow the talents of all our people to be applied to the provision of public services.

Free up data – liberate talent and catalyse creativity. Engage – bring people together using simple tools and you empower.

The dinner was held under Chatham House Rules, which allows the participants to use the information they gathered, but not to attribute the identity or affiliation of the speakers. So, I can’t really go into depth on the discussions. However, it is clear to me that MP Tom Watson will be helping to open up the UK Government in a way that may prove quite beneficial to the citizens of the UK and be a model for us here in ‘the colonies.’

Tom will be in SF for the Web 2.0 Expo, and I’m hoping to get him together with a few of my friends who will be there. If you’re interesed, please get in touch with me.