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Politics -- More Annoying Than Commercials?
I'm a big political junkie. Every Sunday I watch the talk shows, and usually yell at the TV from time to time when false information is presented. What can I say? I don't watch football, so this is it for me. But I'm concerned that political advertising is going to get more annoying than commercial advertising over the next few years, if such a thing is possible.
From the International Herald Tribune today, movie patrons will soon get advertising delivered directly to their cell phones via Bluetooth kiosks in the theatres. While so far the U.S. Congress has kept its paws off the net, the U.N. has it directly in its sights. (Even though a recent U.N. panel failed to agree on how to govern the net)
As you may know, in the U.S. we have all sorts of laws aimed at keeping advertisers from bothering you. We have do-not-call lists, non-solicitation regulations, and junk mail laws. What most people do not realize, however, is that Congress has exempted itself from most of these regulations. That means, for instance, that there is not a do-not-call list for politicians: such a thing does not exist.
Now flash forward a few years, when everybody and their brother continue to try to pester you to death with all the little electronic widgets you have. We're already seeing "War of the blogs" in cyberspace, where big political money is being put on the line to influence the discussion. Do you think you will be able to ask for laws to keep annoyances at a minimum in the future? If so, do you really think the politicians are going to include themselves in the "annoyances" column? Want to place a bet?
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