For those who feel alienated from the political process in Washington - and at least half of all Americans say they do - a new Web site offers a bulldozer to fill in the chasm between the decision-makers and those affected by the decisions.
Democracy.net, which launched Friday, will host interactive cybercasts of congressional hearings in which netizens can ask questions and give testimony that will be entered into the Congressional Record.
"This is a watershed moment for the Net community," says Shabbir J. Safdar, co-creator of Democracy.net and founder of the Voters Telecommunication Watch. "This could determine whether we will be the most mobilized, active, and educated constituency around."
Democracy.net will start by cybercasting a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Pro-CODE encryption bill on 19 March. Netizens can listen in on RealAudio; submit questions to Senate staffers, who will then pass them to senators; write testimony for the hearing record; discuss the hearing in a simultaneous chat with other netizens; read background information on the issue; and watch still video images of the hearing as it happens. The site will also archive written and audio testimony.
"It's about enhancing citizen participation through the Internet," says Jonah Seiger, communications director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, and, with Safdar, the project's co-creator. "Democracy.net is a forum to open up a dialog between those who are inside the Beltway and those outside it."
Safdar and Seiger got the idea for creating the forum after coordinating a cybercast hearing on Pro-CODE last summer on the HotWired Network. The two activists wanted to stake out a permanent place for netizens to communicate directly with the powers that be.
Although cybercasts are quickly becoming mainstays on the Web - through C-SPAN, the White House, and Congress - they have chiefly been one-way portholes into the democratic process, resembling television more than harnessing the Net's interactive capabilities.
"This is an unbelievable historic opportunity," says Brett Scott, counsel for the Senate Commerce Committee, who will be fielding netizens' questions to Commerce Committee members at the cybercast hearings. "Instead of hearings just being reported after the fact, here we have a chance to influence the process as it happens."
Initially Democracy.net will only cybercast issues related to the Internet, but Seiger and Safdar say they plan to expand into other areas of debate. In April, Democracy.net will host an interactive town hall with Representative Rick White (R-Washington). Other town halls are in the works - featuring the more Net-savvy members of Congress, such as senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) and Conrad Burns, and Representative Anna Eshhoo (D-California).
"This is a wonderful way to open up and flatten out the process," says Mike Rawson, director of Internet policy for Burns.
Questions remain about whether flamers and cypherpunks could rain on Democracy.net's parade, but Seiger and Safdar emphasize that this venture into interactive democracy is an experiment. They also note that Democracy.net is not direct democracy, because congressional staffers will act as filters for citizens' questions to members of Congress.
"When you invite masses into the process, will the process change?" Seiger asks. "We'll see."
