By If the whole SOPA fiasco in early 2012 proved one thing, it’s that legislation (especially when dealing with technology) can’t be thrown together all will-nilly, and needs to be more carefully planned and thought out if it’s going to succeed. Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA) is looking to do just that when it comes to user privacy on our smartphones, asking if our handsets are smartphones or tracking devices.
The senator is turning to the public, asking for help in coming up with smart government policies before a bill is drafted up (ala SOPA). Recently, he launched appRIGHTS.us, a “bottom-up” project where you can send your ideas to ensure your data isn’t improperly collected, sold, and exploited by app developers, carriers and OEMs. Johnson’s senior legislative assistant went on to say,
“We want this to be a bottom-up process as much as possible. We are operating from the assumption that federal law is really antiquated.”
The initiative was taken to the streets of Reddit, hoping to gain support from the very users that helped block SOPA from being passed early this year. If you want to do your part, hit up the source link for more details.
[AppRIGHTS.us | Via RWW]
This is a great effort by the congressman. Since we always Moan about these issues we owe it to ourselves to visit the site and give our input. +1 for the Congressman.
I would much prefer if a congressman invited the public to help reform the broke a** patent system.
My only concern is will he be taken seriously. After all, this is the same congressman who asked an admiral if they considered whether the plans to build a new base on Guam would over populate the island and cause it to tip over and capsize.