Internet Explorer Sucks! Who Knew?

Yesterday, I switched to the Foxfire browser by Mozilla and - as silly as it sounds - using it is like discovering the Internet for the first time. I initially downloaded it to use with Blogger because I couldn't see the buttons on IE, but I swear I am going to delete IE from my computer and my life!

Just a few reasons why I am in love with Foxfire:

• It has this nifty feature where you can have several windows open with different tabs.
• There is a special little search feature on top where you can use several different search engines
  
• BBC latest headlines button
• There are neat little features on ALL KINDS of website that I never saw when I was using Explorer!
  

So, just to review:

• Foxfire = Greatest browser known to man
• Internet Explorer = Sucky attempt by Microsoft to brainwash us all into thinking we need their products
  

People in Their PJs v. BCRA: Round 1

I just read a trippy, TRIPPY article about how the mere presence of Blogs has the potential to significantly change our current campaign finance laws! And not for the better.

As we all know, the FEC suddenly discovered the Internet (maybe they met Al Gore?) and have decided to investigate regulating political speech on it. Now, the FEC doesn't really want to regulate speech on the Internet, but they've been ordered to by a federal judge. So, they've pretty much stated that they will do as little as possible - including extending the "media exemption" to bloggers. This means that labor unions and corporations, banned from political participation for a long time, will also be exempt as long as they limit their participation to the Internet.

In short, as everyone gets to own the equivalent of a printing press, and everyone can become a journalist, the corporate and labor limit on campaign activity stands to be swallowed up by the media exemption

And what happens a few years from now when we receive both our Internet computer access and television signals through the same cable or signal? Is a political program broadcast or beamed from your favorite (incorporated) environmental group or evangelical organization going to get the benefit of the media exemption?

Thus, it is not clear how the FEC can give a broad exemption to bloggers now without exempting all electronic media later. For some anti-regulatory commissioners, this may be precisely the point.

Trippy stuff...

Texting for Dollars

Bob Geldof, a hero to many in Africa, is organizing the Live 8 concerts as a kick off to The Long Walk to Justice campaign to end poverty. Much like the Live Aid concerts in 1985, this came along last minute and has involved some interesting negotiations.

Hyde Park, the London location they wanted for the Live 8 concert, was already booked for a charity event to benefit The Prince's Trust and Help a London Child. Prince Charles graciously allowed Geldof use of the space and cancelled his own event. To raise the money the organizations needed, tickets to the London Live 8 concert are being given out via a text lottery, which raised over 2 million pounds in the first day.

If only we could get past those pesky campaign finance laws, how great would a texting fundraiser be?

Why I'm Going to Stop Bitching About My Boss on Email

The Post quotes a report today saying that 30-40% of large employers hire staff to read employee's outbound e-mail messages and that anohter 30% are considering the practice.

Now, maybe I'm not a typical user, but I use my "company" e-mail address for everything. I am on it all day anyway and it was such a pain to check my personal e-mail that I just stopped doing it. Of course, I'm not arranging for prostitutes or drug deals via e-mail, just bitching about my job. Oh, wait...

What are the implications of this for political campaigns? Well, what if you work for Rupert Murdoch and the email "monitor" discovers you are receiving e-mails from the Dennis Kucinich campaign? Can you be fired for "violating the corporate e-mail policy?" Would you be fired if they were from Bill O'Reilly?

It may be difficult to prove political discrimination on the part of a company, but if voters perceive campaign emails to be a threat then they won't accept them and we'll all be looking for new jobs.

DFA: Dean for Aggrandizement

With all due respect to the current leader of our august Party, Dean lost! Can we please stop talking about him! It annoys me that every discussion of politics and the Internet eventually comes around to Howard Dean. Yes, Joe Trippi (Joe Trippi - NOT Howard Dean) used the Internet in an innovative way to raise loads of cash and some serious earned media. But ultimately, the Internet failed him, and here's how:

In his great wisdom, Terry McAuliffe wanted a front-loaded primary system (okay, it made sense at the time...) In reality, that meant that Iowa was the most important place in the world. As it turned out, if you didn't have traction after Iowa, you didn't have squat.

So, here comes DFA with it's fancy website, into Iowa. If you've never been to Iowa, its a lovely place, but it population is overwhelmingly old, white, rural and Christian. That's not exactly the typical profile of an Internet user. In fact, only 39% of Iowans used the Internet to research candidates.

Gephardt, being from a similarly old, white, Christian state himself, understood this and while the media was getting all worked up about the Dean Machine, he was sending out 42 direct mail pieces in the last month before the caucus, most of them attacking Dean. This stealthy, not-sexy-to-report weapon dealt a body blow to the Dean campaign while also taking out Gephardt, as Dean attacked back. This paved the way for Kerry and Edwards to sail through to the 1 and 2 spots. After all, 39% of Iowans used the Internet, but who doesn't get the their daily mail?

My point is, DFA used the Internet in a new and innovative way, but they lost sight of the caucusers. Dean ran a national campaign, but forgot he had to win Iowa first. He used tools (the Internet and the 20-year-old-Starbucks-drinking-daddy's-Hummer-driving-faux-anti-globalization-environmentalist-Deaniac volunteers it attracted) that didn't fit the job.

While Internet campaigning has great untapped potential, one thing Dean taught us is that candidates need to always keep in mind the audience when choosing the tools of their campaign. Also, don't scream.

Big Brother is Texting You

There has been some discussion in other blogs about the possibilities of using MoSoSo for campaign communications. While this is an exciting technology and I agree with many of the points made by my fellow bloggers, I have to respectfully disagree with assertions that this will have a big impact on campaigning in the future.

As with most new technology, the early adopters of MoSoSo will be young people. Young people love all things Friendster-like and since most are already glued to their mobile phones, this is going to be big. However, young people don't vote. You can make music videos about it, hold concerts and haul out every celebrity on the face of the Earth, they just don't vote. I, for one, say we should just ignore them until they can pull their behinds away from their iPods long enough to get to the polls.

Most of the MoSoSo discussions I've seen talk about a mile to half-mile radius. Contrary to the belief of those who lie on the overpopulated Eastern seaboard, a mile is not very far. People in Texas have driveways longer than that. If you are campaigning in NYC, Chicago or Philadelphia, it would be possible to send out a message that would attract or activate voters, but in most areas of the country that wouldn't be possible.

Another hurdle to MoSoSo in campaigns is alienating voters. I keep thinking of that scene in Minority Report when Tom Cruise is walking through the mall and all of the advertisements are calling him by name. Can you imagine being at the grocery store and having to grab your phone out of your purse every few minutes because it is the day before election day and every candidate in town is trying to communicate with you. If voters feel stalked by candidates, they will feel further alienated from the political process.

Is the Blogosphere the new Inside Edition

Okay, sometimes it's the Downing Street Memo, but more often than not, it's crap like the New Jersey photo. Sure, its a little sleezy, but I'd say this falls in the acceptable, even expected, sleezy range.

Come on, people! If the power of the Internet is so great, how come this is the kind of story we get from our faithful bloggers?

Sometimes the Internet is a Pain in the Ass

There is nothing in the world I love more than the Tonys! Unlike American Idol, it celebrates real talent and actual accomplishment. However, Americans don't seem to care because every year fewer and fewer people watch the Tonys broadcast on television.

These declining ratings can lead to some oddities. For the past several years the first hour of the Tonys was broadcast on PBS, with the "big awards" being given out on CBS. I guess the ratings weren't good enough for PBS (how bad is that?!) because they switched to an Internet broadcast this year.

Now, I'm a die hard fan, but it wasn't even worth it for me. It took forever to make it work and once I did, I had to ruin my eyes trying to watch it on the 12 inch screen of my iMac. I finally turned it off and decided I'd just watch the recap on the CBS broadcast.

All of this leads me to two conclusions:
1) The Internet is not television - yet. Maybe someday we'll watch our computers like our TV's, but right now it's a big pain. If you want people to see your event, you need to make it easy. Right now, the Internet isn't easy or convenient for most of us.

2) Norbert Leo Butz rocks!

Yep...Privacy is Totally Dead

I have to agree with Russell Buckley in his cable-news-worthy rant, "The Death Knell of Privacy." And not just because it references my hometown news paper (Kansas City represent!). Some time, a few years back, we quietly decided to trade cool gadgets and a false sense of security for actual privacy.

I believe this has huge implications for campaign communication in the future. As campaigns have access to more and more information about individual voters, they will be tempted to use it. In theory, it would be great to be able to send out personalized direct mail that says

Dear Mary,
I urge you to support the candidacy of John Smith for Senate. He shares your values. He'll fight for increased funding for East High School, including the band program where your son, Johnny so proudly plays the Tuba. He'll also support programs that make it easier for your lovely daughter, Joni to attend University of Timbuktu...

Creepy.

Campaigns will have to walk a fine line between communicating with voters and making them feel stalked. When the inevitable backlash comes and people decide they're tired of Big Brother, campaigns need to make sure they are not caught in the middle.