The Internet v. Citizens United

By Lauren Feeney For Bill Moyers | June 8, 2012

Micah Sifry and Andrew Rasiej are co-founders of Personal Democracy Media, an organization working at the intersection of technology, politics, government and civic life. Their ninth annual Personal Democracy Forum convenes next week in New York City. We caught up with them on the eve of the forum to talk about two new factors that could help shape the 2012 elections — the growing power of social media and the Internet and the explosive influence of corporate money post-Citizens United. Can the democratizing power of the Internet counteract the corrosive power of money in politics?...     

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What Happened to"Yes We Can"?

By Don Tapscott for Reuters: The Great Debate | May 4, 2012

At this pivotal moment in the presidential race, President Barack Obama and his re-election team need to focus on a key question that could influence the outcome of this year’s election:

How do they get the “we” back?

Good question. We all remember how Obama broke new ground in the 2008 campaign by using social media as a powerful political tool. Obama’s campaign created an expansive...

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NY Tech Meetup’s rising voice

With 800 people in regular attendance, the Meetup is taking on political issue

By Judith Messina For Crain's New York Business.com | April 18, 2012

Last week an aspiring entrepreneur sent a humble message to the New York Tech Meetup’s listserv: “It will not be appropriate to launch without your blessing or knowledge.”

The email highlights the way the organization that started in 2004 with 30 people in a conference room has become a sort of unofficial ruling body of the New York tech scene. Its monthly gathering, which has grown to about 800 attendees in NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, is the grandmother of all tech networking events. Lately, the organization has shown signs of becoming a political power, the first real one on the New York tech scene.

“There’s a role for something big, something that represents all of New York tech and that speaks with a loud voice,”

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Social Media and the 2012 Election

By Andrew Rasiej for Philadelphia Inquirer | April 15, 2012

Last year the world watched as Arab Spring protesters used the Internet and social media to organize demonstrations and to share them in real time across the globe, toppling Middle East dictators and reordering human history.

This year, technology and social media sites, most visibly Facebook and Twitter, continue to have a dramatic impact on the political world.

In January, millions of people signed online petitions and contacted members of Congress protesting efforts to pass poorly crafted legislation on online piracy. Lawmakers were forced to withdraw the bills. Similarly the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation was forced to reverse course on Planned Parenthood after a massive public outcry over its suspension of funding to the organization. And an international firestorm ensued after a small not-for-profit organization called Invisible Children brought attention to its cause — and in some cases not-so-welcome scrutiny upon itself — after it posted its Kony 2012 documentary.

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