InTheCapital

Why People Shouldn’t Crucify Twitter for It’s Censorship

by Carl Pierre/@carlpierre

Have you ever purposefully parked in a handicap spot without a permit? How about shoplift from a department store? Maybe hold up a liquor store on the way to work? Casually shoot heroine in your office?

No to all of the above you say?

Well that makes sense, considering that all of those things are illegal in America.

If people aren’t balking at the US enforcing the laws on these particular crimes, then why are people up in arms about Twitter respecting the laws and rules of a foreign nation?

Lately the internet landscape has been a mire of complaints and tirades against the mobile social media company Twitter, persecuting them for purposefully censoring tweets at the behest of local governments that request they be taken down. Twitter’s new censor policy claims that only posts and tweets that contravene local laws will be flagged and taken down.

For most internet users, the recent bout of protests against the online privacy bill in CongressSOPA has brought about a new ideological climate. After many websites participated in the “Black Wednesday” protests, the majority of people on the web now believe that any form of internet censorship is a slippery slope to heavy breaches of First Amendment rights. With wounds still raw from SOPA, people viewed the idea of Twitter blocking tweets as reprehensible as putting duct tape on a protester’s mouth.

In Twitter’s defense, I fully support their new policy of censoring tweets that are flagged as breaking local laws, and here are 3 reasons why:

1. Twitter is still a business that must respect the regulations and practices of foreign nations they wish to operate in. Sometimes business is just business, and pushing an ideological agenda is incredibly inappropriate, particularly upon another country. Most Americans are oblivious to the idea that not all countries run on the same ideology that the United States was founded on, so any sort of law in another country that is perceived as even slightly undemocratic elicits waves of protest from ignorant Americans. Using the banner of free speech is not a political vehicle that allows you to claim immunity to foreign laws.
2. The censored tweets can still be viewed in any other country by any other user, just not in the country of origin. It’s not complete censorship, only within the body of government that the tweet violated laws in. Most people who are railing against this new policy are not the most informed, and don’t understand that the tweets can still be read by other people in other countries. Admittedly it’s not the most ideal method of broadcasting thoughts, but it’s still a way for those voices to be heard.
3. Don’t blame the rules, blame the rule-maker. Why are we vilifying Twitter for abiding by laws they clearly didn’t create? If people have a real beef with this censorship, take it up with the local governments that created and enforce these laws. If your country’s legislation is rubbing you the wrong way, write to your government or even protest if you want, but don’t blame Twitter for respecting the rules.

Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, has taken a great deal of heat on these issues and responded to recent criticisms with this:

It’s a super complex issue. It takes a while for the scholars and the people who study these matters to weigh in and start to say, ‘Wait, this is actually a thoughtful and honest approach to doing this and it’s in fact being done in a way that’s forward-looking.’ So we wait for that to happen .

I empathize with Costolo for the position he was put in, a position many leaders of booming businesses find themselves:

A rock and a hard place.

What the Heck Is Crowdfunding? An Explainer

by @cwarzel of @inthecapital

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

As we mentioned last week, on behalf of Michelle Obama, The White House invited some innovators to the State of the Union on Tuesday night. One of those lucky bunch was Instagram founder, Mike Krieger. It makes, of course, that the creator of the snazzy photo sharing app would use the occasion to snap a quick shot with the First Lady herself. 

The invitation was most certainly an attempt of the administration to highlight entrepreneurship—with an emphasis on foreign innovators who come to the United States. Krieger, of course, is Brazilian and in the process of getting his green card.

The White House also posted a nice little video of his trip, which we have below. 

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

Batten down the hatches, stuff your cash inside your mattresses and get ready to watch 276 hours of CNBC without blinking. Facebook may be close to filing for their record-breaking IPO. 

Rumors this afternoon are swirling around that Morgan Stanley is close to taking the lead in underwriting the monster initial public offering that stands to bring Facebook a valuation of between $75 and $100 billion. Yeah, you heard right. Billions. 

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Facebook could file papers for the IPO as early as this coming Wednesday, but that timing is still being discussed, said a person familiar with the matter. The company is currently looking at a valuation of $75 billion to $100 billion, this person said.

This is big news. So of course we did what we do and took to the Twitters. Here’s a few gems:

We thought the same thing! Just watch out for those underage coeds, Sean! (yeah, we saw The Social Network)

I’ve only heard  of the ‘octo-box’ in fables…is it real?! Will we see it?!

For $100 billion, Zuck can tattoo everyone in the city of Palo Alto head to toe. 300 times over (this is a rough estimate, and by that we mean we made it up).

More info as it comes, folks. 

Lead Image via [markwollacott.com]

inside the @Uber_DC scrum at Shadow Bar. video down below.

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

Last night, literally hundreds of DC residents crammed into Shadow Room on K Street to show Uber’s DC branch some serious love. As we’ve been covering extensively over the past few weeks, Uber, the popular app and company that allows you to find town car-style sedans, has come under fire from the DC cab commission for ‘operating illegally’. We’re kinda biased here at InTheCapital, but to us we read ‘operating illegally’ as ‘stealing business’. But that’s a story for another day. 

The fight between Uber and DC city government has picked up serious traction in papers and magazines and websites both local and national. The support from District residents has been very vocal as well. On a recent call with Twitter’s DC Government liaison, Adam Sharp, he noted that Uber fan response on Twitter was one of the best instances he’d seen of “a customer base reaching out in their defense.”

Hoping to capitalize on this, Uber was savvy enough to invite folks to come out last night to the swanky club, Shadow Room and drink at their open bar from 6 to 8:30pm. The only caveat? They’d have to listen to a presentation from Uber Founder, Travis Kalanick. The people came and the booze flowed heartily. Here is some video proof:

Uber CEO Travis Speaks to DC from InTheCapital on Vimeo.

Takeaway: Travis gave a stellar presentation to an absolutely rabid crowd of younger, yuppies. It wasn’t exactly clear whether the partygoers absolutely LOVED Uber or completely HATED the DC cab commission (we think it’s a mix of both), but the love showered down on Uber so heavily that Kalanick joked at one point, “I wish I could just live in this moment forever.”

Uber further endeared themselves to their target audience of younger, accomplished working professionals with some free booze and pizza, and that support will be important down the line. Uber’s DC General Manager, Rachel Holt told us that they had to cap the event at 700 people and received loads more emails and calls requesting party invites. Travis will be back in town on Valentines day for a meeting with the DC government. You can bet we’ll be there to watch as it all goes down. For now though, we think that with fans as loyal as they were last night, Uber will be here to stay in DC.

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

We may need to change the way we look at big tech companies. If you saw last year’s, The Social Network, it’s easy to imagine Facebook in the context of a Harvard dorm room startup but as we’re seeing those days are long gone. Zuck may not have traded in his hoodie for a fitted suit yet, but as the money shows, big tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are making money like traditional media and trying to buy Washington influence to match.

Earlier this week, we looked at Facebook’s expanded lobbying efforts and took a couple grand looks at the future. Turns out we weren’t the only ones. The Wall Street Journal also dug into Tech’s newfound influence in Washington, unearthing some interesting facts.

Silicon Valley has also developed into a major source of political contributions for President Obama and other lawmakers, rivaling traditional media companies. In 2008, employees of Google and Microsoft Corp. were No. 4 and No. 5, respectively, as sources of campaign donations for Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign, giving a combined total of about $1.7 million, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Time Warner Inc., the top media company, trailed behind, with its employees ranking as the No. 8 source of donations to the Obama campaign that year. 

 Through September 2011, Microsoft employees ranked as the top supporters of the president’s re-election campaign, and Google employees were No. 5. Time Warner employees had slipped to No. 10.

This might all sound very obvious to you all. Yes, Facebook and Google and Microsoft have lots of money, so what? But i’m not certain we all see it that way. Last week’s SOPA reaction was a decisive victory for the tech and internet communities. The fight pitted Big Tech as underdogs in the face of lobbying powerhouses like the Motion Picture Association of America. This was accurate as, by and large, the tech community is a disorganized body. We all love the internet and support a free internet, but a lot of the discussion surrounding SOPA painted giants like Google and Facebook like fledgling startups, oppressed by ‘the man’. We have to get past this line of thinking as it sets a dangerous precedent. 

So, what is a startup?

Glad you asked. We asked a few entrepreneurs ourselves to weigh in. Here is what we learned. Craig Dye, Director of University of Maryland’s VentureAccelerator, told us he subscribes to Steven Blank’s definition that, “A startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.”

From this definition, it is hard to judge exactly how Facebook and Google fit. Of course, they are always trying to replicate their initial success and expand to greater scale. Facebook is poised to have 1 billion users at some point this year, while the current figure hovers somewhere near the 800,000 range. But in terms of the word ‘search’, there is no question that the hard part has been done for Facebook. That, of course, being the construction of a powerful user network. Same with Google. To say that either company is still ‘searching’ for a scalable idea is patently untrue. 

Matt Fellowes, Founder and CEO of HelloWallet told us that, while he believes there are many internal, cultural components to a startup like, “a real hunger in the organization to grow fast” and “a culture wide commitment to be nimble,” some companies exceed the startup threshold. “once you pass a certain valuation marker…you’re not a startup anymore…I don’t know what that is, but when you’re in the 100s of millions, you’re probably not.”

We’re inclined to agree with Fellowes on that last point. While startup culture can continue to pervade in companies that have been around decades, there comes a time when your influence and bottom lines say more than your jeans and hoodies. The Wall Street Journal reported that, “Eric Schmidt, and a Facebook representative were among those given the chance to make their case to White House Chief of Staff William Daley in December, helping to prompt the recent White House statement nodding to Google’s concerns about excessive regulation of the Internet,” which is proof enough that Google and Facebook matter in the same way that Exxon and Bank of America matter. 

image via WSJ

Google and Facebook, along with other tech companies aren’t quite at the stratospheric level of lobbying contributions as traditional media, but they are getting there. Their influence is also arguably far greater, as politicians and organizations and individuals integrate social media and technology into their campaigns and infrastructures. Tech doesn’t have as big of a lobby, but technology makes Washington run, connects us globally, and disseminates the information and data that powers democracy.

Companies like Google are under increasing scrutiny (especially as of late) for the amount of private data they own and can access. Products from companies like Apple are ubiquitous in countries around the world, and Facebook boasts more users than all countries in the world but two. These guys are not startups anymore. They are extremely powerful, driven corporations with great access. We do not aim to say in any capacity that they are using their power for evil…in fact, we believe that much of their innovation can change the world in a positive way.

What we do wish to impart, however, is that the Facebooks and Googles of the world are aware of their status and influence in the world and they want a seat at the table in Washington. As citizens, we need to monitor this vigilantly and understand the implications of big tech in government. We believe that the integration could ultimately be positive for democracy in the United States and abroad, but like always, it pays to stay informed.

[Lead image via soshable.com]

It is safe to say that President Obama has the full support of Silicon Valley and the giants of tech. The proof is in the monster announcement today for Technology for Obama, which is affectionately abbreviated as ‘T4O’. This group is a powerhouse of tech giants and founders who are banding together to raise campaign cash and, most likely, assist with creating a formidable digital campaign structure and proprietary code. The group of co-chairs includes Sean Parker, of Napster and Facebook fame, Reid Hoffman co-founder of LinkedIn, Jeremy Stoppelman from Yelp, Craigslist namesake and founder, Craig Newmark, and Marc Benioff  of Salesforce.com.

Did your eyes just roll back into your head a little bit? Perhaps your jaw hit the floor? This is a mammoth development from the campaign as this group of committee co-chairs has loads of money, even more influence, and a LOT of access to top development talent. 

Here’s a little on the net worth of some of the co-chairs:

Reid Hoffman - $1.5 billion

Sean Parker - $2.1 billion

Marc Benioff - $1.9 billion

Craig Newmark - $400 million

Jeremy Stoppelman - $222 million

That’s a lot of cash.

Here’s a bit from the Obama Campaign’s website:

Technology for Obama (T4O) seeks to activate an influential fundraising and operational group from the broad technology community. Through national, regional, and online activities,T4O will work to rally the tech community to endorse, and to commit time and talent to the campaign. T4Owill supply participants with information, contacts and inspiration for further involvement and to provide significant financial support for the re-election of President Barack Obama. If you work, support, or identify with technology then you should join T4O!

If you also have a ton of cash and an interest in helping the Obama campaign’s tech strategy, you can donate as well. There will also be ameeting in San Francisco tonight, where the big dogs will talk on a panel and explain how they are banding together to create a tech infrastructure and cash pool the likes of which have never been seen before.

[Lead Image via USA Today]

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

We mentioned Google yesterday in a list of big tech companies trying to assert themselves in the the lobbying arm of Washington. Today, Google continues to extend its presence in a different area of DC, with the introduction of community manager, Corrie Davidson. 

The official twitter account for the DC vertical is @GoogleDC, and judging by Ms. Davidson’s first tweet, she’s looking to jump in head first. 

Ms. Davidson’s initial post is vague as to her day to day responsibilities, but she describes herself as a lifelong DMV resident and will be exploring the city and surrounding area further in the coming days and months. Obviously, it’s great to see Google extend their network to the District. Welcome.

soupsoup:

Look who bought the top promoted tweet for “Romney Tax Returns”

This is how you use the promoted tweet in a campaign. Who knows if it’s actually effective…