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posted by martyb on Thursday July 30 2015, @03:45AM   Printer-friendly
from the dragnet dept.

Washington cybersecurity bill [protesters] are hitting Congress where it hurts: right in the fax machine.

Protesters have programmed eight separate phone lines to convert emails sent from a handy box at FaxBigBrother.com (as well as tweets with the hashtag #faxbigbrother) to individual faxes and send them to all 100 members of the US Senate.

The rationale, said Evan Greer of activist group Fight for the Future, is that Congress doesn’t appear to understand technology invented in the current century.

“Groups like Fight for the Future have sent millions of emails, and they still don’t seem to get it,” said Greer. “Maybe they don’t get it because they’re stuck in 1984, and we figured we’d use some 80s technology to try to get our point across.” All 100 members of Congress will receive each of the faxes.
...
Do US senators really use their fax machines that often, though? “Yes, sadly,” one former Senate staffer told the Guardian. They love their pagers as well. Faxes “all get digitized by the time they get to the office, though”, which bodes ill for senatorial email inboxes.

And why is 1979’s hottest tech trend still so popular on Capitol Hill? “One thing that makes faxes – and pagers, for that matter – still good tech is that they are analog and difficult to search. Members love them, especially to transmit data for things like campaign financing records.”

… so, if you're looking for an explanation for why government does things the way it does, the explanation that assumes maximum weasel … factor is nearly always correct?


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:34AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:34AM (#215738)

    Or are these activists just a bunch of morons?

    Electronic Mail and the World Wide Web were not invented in the current century.

    Young people didn't invent sex, either, you know? Oh right. You don't know, because you're all a bunch of stupid morons. Get off my fucking lawn! I don't want to hear you because I'm busy fucking!

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:48AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:48AM (#215741)

    Modded down to Troll because SoylentNews is moderated by 14-year-olds, yes? Let's check the ACTUAL DATES.

    RFC 822
    STANDARD FOR THE FORMAT OF ARPA INTERNET TEXT MESSAGES
    August 13, 1982

    RFC 1945
    Hypertext Transfer Protocol -- HTTP/1.0
    May 1996

    Well look here, young trendy hipster Internet Activists are using 20TH CENTURY TECHNOLOGY.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:03AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:03AM (#215743)

      Way to miss the point.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:10AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:10AM (#215745)

        No, you're missing the point. The Internet and the Fax are contemporary technologies. Senators know the Internet is not new. This "protest" is completely stupid and a waste of time for all involved because it will rightfully be ignored as a bunch of stupid ignorant teens being ignorant.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:30AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:30AM (#215751)
          The Internet was the province of universities and computer specialists for much of the twentieth century, it was only in the last years of the twentieth century that it started becoming mainstream. It will be ignored because that is what congress does. They never care unless they think it will cost them votes or if there's money involved.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:46AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:46AM (#215756)

            The 21st century mainstream Internet is the realm of drunks who post photos of their twats. I wonder why anyone would ever choose to ignore messages from a cesspool of drunken scum?

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @07:50AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @07:50AM (#215790)

              Self-criticism seems to be your forte. Good thing, really.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @08:06AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @08:06AM (#215794)

              I wonder why anyone would ever choose to ignore messages from a cesspool of drunken scum?

              You do know that you took the time to write that message out, hit a preview button, then a submit button on the internet? To the point: you are doing what you are criticizing others of doing by doing it and have some expectation of not being ignored despite being part of your titled "drunken scum".

                Congrats, revel in the cesspool. I hear there are free drinks and twat pictures somewhere around here.

        • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:42AM

          by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:42AM (#215754) Journal

          I just love it when Hairyfeet posts as AC. You can just feel the spittle!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:28AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @05:28AM (#215750)

        You're so right, Anonymous Weasel. That troll sure is missing the point. Say, since we're friends who agree about everything and this site is all about the agreeing about stuff and not disagreeing about anything at all, can I rub up against you so I can be Insightful too? You're so warm and furry.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @10:36PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @10:36PM (#216052)

      I'm currently looking for the -1 I wanted to correct while I was at work. These are not the comments I'm looking for. Move along. (I think somebody else got to it first.)

      BTW, it was your 3rd paragraph that was your undoing. You might have been informative if not for that.