For years, and by years I'm talking well-over 200, Congress has been a haven for luddites. This can be seen as long ago as when the automatic piano was being developed, all the way up to our current video age. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was more than 100 pages long and it was passed in under 12 hours. Congress blindly passed a bill that abnegated a large portion of our digital rights. Why are we allowing ourselves to the led by these technologically dumb old men? Because there has yet to be an alternative. Now there is: Dr. Lawrence Lessig.

In Palo Alto, California, Dr. Lawrence Lessig is being drafted by his silicon-valley compatriots to represent them in congres as that alternative. Lessig is a professor at Stanford and is the chair of Creative Commons. On top of this, Lessig was the special prosecutor in the US vs. Microsoft case.

Sure, Lessig is a geek, a lawyer and he gets the issues; but, would he be a good representative? Furthermore, is it even worth it to run for a seat that will require another election at the end of this year? These are both questions that have kept Lessig from announcing anything firm as of yet. These are also both extremely valid questions that Lessig will have to sort out as he considers if he wants to run. Sure, the current congress is old and technologically dumb; but, is electing an untested, revolutionary really worth it? It's up to the residents of Silicon Valley to decide. Keep an eye out on lessig.org to see if he decides to run. If so, this could lead to something interesting.

Photo by SimSullen

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