[thechat] Fwd: "Adopt Your MP": Good job.
Martin Burns
martin at easyweb.co.uk
Wed Jun 19 02:45:00 CDT 2002
I'm sure some of us will have got this already, but I thought it worth
sharing
Cheers
Martin
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Danny O'Brien <danny at spesh.com>
> Date: Tue Jun 18, 2002 11:46:13 pm Europe/London
> To: stand at lists.stand.org.uk
> Subject: "Adopt Your MP": Good job.
> Reply-To: stand at stand.org.uk
>
> GOVERNMENT NO LONGER QUITE SO KEEN ON RIP STANDING ORDER
>
> As most of you will already have heard, the government has backed
> down from
> the RIP s22 Order that would have given access to traffic data to
> dozens of
> government departments. We thought you'd like to know that this
> U-turn was
> largely down to you.
>
> The FaxYourMP folk say that they relayed 1789 faxes from last monday,
> and
> estimate that around 1600 of those were related to the s22 RIP Order.
> That
> means that, on average, every MP received at least two messages
> expressing
> concern over the measure.
>
> We've received mail from constituents saying that their Member of
> Parliament
> called them directly to discuss the issue. We've had MPs mail us with
> advice. We've had TV companies and newspapers contact us after they'd
> been
> hassled by their readers and viewers. We've even had MPs writing
> letters to
> constituents explaining, mournfully, that there was nothing they
> could do -
> and then had their own voters explain to them how to attend Standing
> Committee debates, and who to get in contact with others to help
> fight this
> order. Ah, those apathetic votees.
>
> Also, we had Hugh.
>
> One of the stories we've repeatedly heard is that the Home Secretary's
> change of heart came from a briefing by his 21-year old son, Hugh
> Blunkett.
>
> Hugh, like the rest of us, uses the Internet. He knows enough to see
> how
> dangerous this proposition was. At some point - whether it was a
> forwarded
> messaage, or an announcement posted on http://slashdot.org, or a link
> on
> your Website - Hugh found out about this order. He read the comments,
> and
> the objections posted by thousands of people online, and did
> something about
> it.
>
> Now, of course, it does help if your dad is the Home Secretary. But if
> there's one thing we've learnt from STAND, it's that people have
> greater
> access to the levers of government than they think. From you to the
> Home
> Secretary is a very short chain, and for practical purposes, we don't
> care
> whether it was via Hugh or David's old classmate at Huddersfield
> College.
> Someone explained to him how the rest of us feel.
>
> Making contact is important. The volunteers at STAND and FaxYourMP are
> almost pathologically cynical, but we're regularly taken aback by how
> positively MPs, editors, civil servants and peers of the realm
> respond to a
> personal contact by intelligent and reasonable citizens. It's almost
> as if
> they're flattered by the attention. It's almost as if they're touched
> anyone
> even cares about what they do.
>
> At the beginning of this campaign - oh, almost a week ago now - many
> people
> (from professional lobbyists to anonymous Web forum posters) told us
> that it
> was futile to encourage others to make a fuss. It was too late; that
> delegated legislation would be railroaded through; that no-one cared
> about
> privacy issues; that U-turns never happen.
>
> Well, perhaps we shouldn't get too cocky. Even this proposal has only
> been
> "postponed indefinitely", possibly only until the next Parliament
> after the
> Summer break. And there are dozens of other bits of legislation
> hanging
> about with vast technological idiocies contained within
> - the RIP Act draft Code of Practices; the EU's Copyright Directive
> and Data
> Retention orders; laws against reverse-engineering; software patents
> and who
> knows what else.
>
> But we thought it was worth saying that you won. And the next time
> you're
> talking to someone about these issues, and someone says "what's the
> point?"
> - well, you now may now point at yourself, and mention how you got the
> government to blink.
>
> Cheers,
>
> The STAND team.
>
> PS The News At Ten people broadcast a segment about STAND member's
> effect on on Tuesday night. If it's before 1330pm on Wednesday when
> you read this (and you have Real player), you can watch it here:
> <URL:http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/tvseq/news_ost.ram>
>
> Many of the wine bottles behind James are now empty.
>
>
_______________________________________________
email: martin at easyweb.co.uk PGP ID: 0xA835CCCB
martin at members.evolt.org snailmail: 30 Shandon Place
tel: +44 (0)774 063 9985 Edinburgh,
url: http://www.easyweb.co.uk Scotland
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