Regarding recent SOPA and PIPA activity, Mike Arrington linked to this recent NY Times article snippet:

Data shows that copyright holders and supporters of the bills outspent opponents substantially in the early stages of the debate. But by many accounts the tech industry has stepped up its lobbying efforts in recent weeks. New spending reports expected shortly indicate whether the balance has shifted.

His closing reaction:

This is how criminal organizations run protection rackets. Congress is doing just that, only it’s completely legal.

Although perhaps not as black and white as he makes it appear, the entire lobbying game played in D.C. is dirty. At the behest of corporations money is thrown at lawmakers to sway them to pass legislature that is in the best interest of the corporate entity, citizens be damned.

The tech industry is renown for disrupting industries and creating something new where there wasn’t anything before.  Historically all this activity has taken place away from bureaucracies yet increasingly government is nosing itself into the affairs of the tech sector, potentially limiting their creativity and output.

How is the tech industry to do to the government what it has done so aptly before to many other industries?  How do you disrupt something that was created to provide order and sustain an equilibrium?  How do you disrupt Democracy?

Pure technical prowess isn’t the answer but it can certainly provide a strong backbone to whatever the solution may be.  Hopefully its found sooner than later.  People’s faith in the government is at an all-time low and it’s for good reason.  Everyday you see the government acting on its own best interest and it’s time for that to change.