Wired News covers Pete Ashdown, an EFF-promoting ISP owner and SLC DJ. Can an pro-freedom techie take down an MPAA/RIAA go-to guy?
His name is Pete Ashdown, and if anyone can clue Congress in to technology before it legislates the internet into a bunch of pneumatic tubes, it's Ashdown, who breathes bytes and exhales bits. He founded XMission (the first and largest ISP in Utah), deejayed raves and posted a Wiki version of his campaign platform for anyone to edit.
In an age where energy magnates meet behind closed doors with elected officials to determine policy, Ashdown posts a calendar showing every meeting he takes in a day, and thinks other politicians should do the same.
Ashdown is the real deal: a progressive Democrat with geek cred as well as a successful businessman and hip urbanite, in a (paradoxically) traditionalist stronghold.
"I find it interesting that Republicans like Senator Hatch repeatedly want to deregulate businesses but regulate the individual and it proves time and again that this is not the government conservatives espouse as being small and limited. It's 'We want to be in control of your daily lives to the extent that we're watching what you're doing on your computers, we're watching whether you're violating any corporate copyrights. We're going to be the unpaid copyright police for the corporations.'"
To donate or collaborate on Ashdown's campaign, go to vote.peteashdown.org.