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Tag: PAC

  • Twitter’s Political Contributions and Lobbying Efforts Detailed on New Transparency Page

    Twitter says its political involvement amounts to fighting for users’ rights and things like freedom of expression, Internet freedom, privacy, online safety, and patent reform.

    And now, in the name of transparency, the company’s set up a hub to detail its political engagement.

    “Because Twitter stands for open communication, we’re pleased to unveil policy.twitter.com, our new site covering the most critical policy issues facing our users, as well as providing an unprecedented level of transparency into how and with whom we engage politically in the U.S. We hope to expand this feature to cover our global activities outside the U.S. soon,” says Twitter’s Public Policy manager Tom Tarantino.

    On Twitter’s new public policy page, you can find a list of trade associations it belongs to, community donations, political contributions, and lobbying retainers. All of this information is publicly available – Twitter’s not really disclosing anything new – but now it’s definitely easier to find and access.

    The hub also details Twitter’s political action committee.

    Twitter says it’ll post notice of any donations it makes to political candidates within 48 hours.

    “We will conduct our #PAC activities with a high degree of transparency. In addition to posting our, policies, and FEC reports, we are also committing to post notice of all donations to candidates within 48 hours.”

    A small, but appreciated move for transparency.

  • Reddit’s TestPAC Raises $9,000 Against SOPA Creator Lamar Smith

    Reddit’s TestPAC Raises $9,000 Against SOPA Creator Lamar Smith

    Texas Representative Lamar Smith, creator of nasty Internet legislation SOPA, has attracted the ire of the Internet for quite some time. It wasn’t until recently that the Internet decided to do something about it beyond just a blackout or creating funny memes blasting politicians.

    Reddit is playing by the rules and is on the ground in Texas to head up TestPAC, a political campaign aimed squarely at defeating Rep. Smith in the May 29 primary. According to the post on Reddit, TestPAC has been in the works for the past three months. The group consists of 10 volunteers getting the word out and raising money.

    TestPAC’s previous campaigns included putting a billboard in Lamar Smith’s backyard and producing a professional advertisement against Rep. Smith.

    To further their goals and get the word out, the group is raising money to increase their TV coverage in the area. The primary is at the end of this month so the pressure is on, but I don’t think TestPAC and its friends at Reddit have anything to worry about. TestPAC was hoping to raise $5,000, but has now raised $9,000. With the extra money, TestPAC is now hoping to target 2010 primary voters with a direct mailing campaign.

    If you want to follow TestPAC and everything that is happening with the Internet community’s first PAC, check out the subreddit. There’s lot of useful links and places to get involved in the fight to save the Internet. You can also donate your hard earned to a nobler cause here.

    If anything, TestPAC should be a great jumping point for many netizens to get on board with politics. Many Redditors obviously care about SOPA and CISPA, but don’t know the first thing when it comes to politics. The blackout may have given them false pretenses about the power they wield. Helping out with TestPAC will hopefully turn them towards real political action instead of just putting a fancy “Stop SOPA” badge on their Twitter avatar.

    What do you think of TestPAC? Do you think the first Internet funded PAC will be successful? Let us know in the comments.

    [h/t: @mattcutts]