The nation is in a frenzy for information about the credit/mortgage/finance crisis. People are willing to watch 10-minute-long videos to figure out just what is really happening.
Lawmakers who had agreed to vote for the bailout backed out, amid an email bombardment from constituents who didn’t want a 700-billion dollar pig in a poke. Many other citizens weren’t even heard, getting auto-responders from house.gov indicating there was “too much traffic.”
One of my commute partners tried looking at the bailout bill online, and said the House bill system was overloaded.
Transparency in government is a needed thing. Senators and Representatives who respond to constituents are a good thing too. But in an age of broadband saturation and greater online savvy, we can’t have a transparent government without the Big Pipe bandwidth to make it accessible. It’s like having a clear glass doggie-door: Yeah, you can see through it, but we can’t all squeeze through at once.
Memo to Washington: bigger pipes, please.
[tags]Ike Pigott, Occam’s RazR, government, transparency, bailout[/tags]
Ironically, the government is one of the only entities actually trying to move ahead with not just bigger pipes — but also the Internet Protocol that the rest of the world is using: IPv6. If you feel the need to take your mind off of the US economy for a moment, this is worth a read: http://bit.ly/ipv_6. But I don’t think any system is designed for a majority of users to go that destination at the same time. Maybe — and to your point — it should be, however.
P.S. — wasn’t it on your blog that I learned about “safe and well?” That’s sort of the same idea, is it not?
I’ve been a huge fan of IPv6. I’m also a fan of opening the doors to information about what our elected reps are doing. But an open door isn’t enough if the bandwidth fails.
Ike,
I’ve got a great podcast about FIA (Freedom of Info Act) in the UK and the US if you care for a listen…I can send you the link directly…
–ADM