Online porn is obvious, video conferencing, mobile technology..

believe it or not, porn helped push video tapes to be adopted.

No corporation will talk about this in public of course.

I guess what I take away from this is that anyone you can call, email and harrass in your family is well worth it. Remember too, when getting the questions about past Republican support that Webb never gave any money to a Republican candidate in his life- this is from him talking in Blacksburg -but Harris Miller has donated to 7 hard line Republicans, including the speaker of the house.

Time to work even harder for Webb.

I end up deviating from the script because they are asking me questions on where Webb stands.

Fortunately I have statements around here that I can quote.

"I need to find out more about him" is probably the number one statement I heard.

If they have heard about him,

First thing out of the box is "I don't know about a Republican being a Democrat" so it's pretty clear they are not accessing the web or reading the newspaper, they have the TV and mail flyers.

I've also seen they are unaware there are two running in the primary.  I'd say 15% didn't know that.

I've only run into one die hard Miller supporter, most are undecided most don't know where Webb stands on the issues.

When I mention Miller is a corporate lobbyist who promoted offshore outsourcing of jobs and Webb support for labor statements, I've had 3 switch to Webb on the phone, one who was leaning heavily Miller.

That's deviating from the script, but hey, you get what you pay for and I figure if they switch their vote right there no one will complain.

Areas:  Fairfax, Alexandria and Annadale.

What I found amazing was how willing people were to talk to me, I had only 1 hang up and how much they wanted information on specifics...I really was surprised but I've never done campaign calling before.

I was expecting "click, click, click".  Not so, they were very engaged.

I hope all who have the ability to chat on the phone, some sales skills and people skills, volunteer to do phone banks.

That's one thing I got out of it, most people simply are not on the Internet where the real information is.

Googling "Jim Webb" gets you "A Collection of Works by James Webb," the Webb for Senate site, and a bunch of stuff on other "Jim" or "James" Webbs.  Googling "James Webb" doesn't give you much more than that.  Googling ""jim webb" plus "senate" and "virginia" gets you the Webb for Senate site, the Wes Clark endorsement page on Webb, the "Act Blue" page on Webb, two articles from JC Wilmore's Richmond Democrat blog, and the Draft James Webb site.

The second page of the Webb search is REALLY good for Webb, with all kinds of strong pro-Webb stuff. The second page for Miller is a mixed bag, with some good stuff (GOTV: "Women Legislators Endorse Harris Miller for US Senate") and some not-so-good stuff (RK: "Harris Miller and the Wholesale Outsourcing of American Jobs"). 

Overall, the Google search for Harris Miller is pretty bad if you're a Miller supporter.  The Google search for Webb is pretty good, although there's a fair amount of unrelated material.  Interesting.

I would be, if Webb's talking about what I think he's talking about.  (And I believe that you would be, too.)  I don't know the specifics of the accusation, but know only that attempts to force schools to install censorware have proven disastrous.  The companies that make this software are overwhelmingly conservative, and blocking Planned Parenthood as "pornography," GLAAD as "hate speech," etc.  Many schools have wanted desperately to remove this software, with school administrators finding that they can't get basic work done, but can't with their hands tied due to laws that demand more than technology can provide.

For more information on censorware, see the website of an organization with which I have long been involved, Peacefire.

The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) is hailing last week's decision by three federal judges to overturn part of the Children's
Internet Protection Act (CIPA) because it required libraries to block content protected under the First Amendment, reports Federal Computer Week. The law was designed to block minors from accessing Internet pornography by the use of filtering software. Libraries that refused to install the software risked losing federal funding. "There are plenty of
filtering software tools available," ITAA President Harris Miller said. "If a librarian wants to make a decision on content, they do not need government laws; they can use existing technology. A federal mandate is not necessary." The courts ruled that the law forced schools and public
libraries to block access to Web sites that contain protected speech.

Also, according to Wikipedia, "Libraries can still refuse to filter their Internet access if they are willing to forego federal E-Rate funds. Several library systems, including the Westchester Library System, in New York, have chosen to give up federal funding in order to keep their computers unfiltered."

More than I ever knew on this subject...

Internet and content filters on library and school computers are clumsy and ineffective.  For me, the high point of that board of supervisors meeting was when an anti-filter speaker pointed out that she was able to get to porn sites with just a few clicks--through the Family Foundation's home page.  My children report that filters on their school computers make it difficult to reach appropriate sites. 

Although I am a strong supporter of Jim Webb, I'm sorry that his people have tried to use the internet filter issue to tar Harris Miller.  To imply that being against filters is somehow anti-family and anti-child is pandering.

For example, shortly after 9/11, huge piles of tax dollars became available for technological advances in the Homeland Defense area.  Miller and the IT industry had great difficulty at that time getting the whole piece of pie.

One reason for this was because of the nearly concurrent anthrax incidents, against which any complaints would have betrayed the lack of community interest and ultimately they would have been self-destructive with respect to both legislative interest and public image for the industry.

The best Miller could do under such conditions was to complain rather feebly at some point that a disproportionate amount of money was going to biology (read bioterrorism) versus IT (read cyberterrorism).

A campaign was undertaken to fan fears about the potential life and death consequences of cyberterrorism.  For example, Miller told the press of scenarios such as remote train switching that could result in derailing which would cost lives.

Those efforts were ineffective, in part because the Bush core group did not have much use for him.  The petulance and complaints against the Clinton adminstration were well in check once Bush took power, but it wasn't much help.  They pretty much had his number early on.

One of the reasons that the Bush administration was highly skeptical of Miller early on may well have been because of lingering suspicions of boondoggling due the enormous amount that the U.S. had spent on Y2K relative to other nations.

In short, public interest is pretty much orthogonal to corporate self-interest.  An example of this is the industry's, and Miller's, aggressive avoidance of affirmative action amendments on one of the visa bills. Affirmative action, however, became a central concern when petitioning for government funding of IT education programs.

Having Microsoft fix Cyberterrorism is an oxymoron.

What is this about AA amendments to a Visa bill?  First I heard of it and I am VERY interesting in a reference.

AA in IT education?  Really?  Or is it a public relations stunt to show yet another lack of people in engineering and science? 

And some argue that a company's sole responsibility is to enhance the wealth of its stockholders.  Combining these two goals, results in a government with enhancing the wealth of stockholders.  The end results are high profits for a few in Iraq and ignoring low return disasters such as Katrina.  A month after Katrina, Harris Miller claimed that No issue is more important or timely today than identity management

Here is my diary on minorities and that visa bill:
http://raisingkaine.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2531

Note in particular the comments by the members of the Congressional Black Caucus and Delegate Owens at the end.  The experience must have been degrading.