Though Chris Floyd (American Moscow Times columnist and author) and I from Empire Burlesque are not the most interactive Kos and Booman members and relative newbies – we were struck by the call from STOP George in his diary "ACTION ALERT: Qwest, ALONE, says, “No!” to domestic spying." enough to buy the name thankyouqwest.org on Thursday.
As the technical end of the partnership, my idea was to create an quick WordPress (Open Source) site that would not only centre as a point of praise in the form of posting ‘thank you’ comments (such as thankyoustephencolbert.org) but also act as a links clearinghouse for the netroot buzz on Qwest and the NSA story. I was able to purchase the name and get the site up within hours.
Within a day (last night) I was on the phone with Newsday technology staffer Richard J. Dalton Jr.- who interviewed me on the site for a half an hour. He couldn’t quite get over the fact he was speaking to someone in Holland who was not American. There are a number of us who participate in the progressive movement online that don’t carry the same passport and I suppose we all have our own reasons.
Then lo and behold I woke up this morning to find the stats full of links from the NYT’s where we were included in an article on former Qwest chief Joseph P. Nacchio, and the rapid turnabout of his reputation since it was revealed that he refused to play ball with the NSA.
One blogger even created a Web site, www.thankyouqwest.org, praising the company for its decision not to cooperate with the government’s surveillance plan.
And it the interview appeared in Newsday.
Bloggers also have expressed their support, and Richard Kastelein, a Web designer based in the Netherlands, created thankyouqwest.org, which commends the company as the only holdout and declares: “Qwest customers are safe.”
Kastelein said he started the site “because it’s about time someone stood up. Qwest has had a lot of bad press during the past few years and its fair share of problems. But they certainly deserve kudos for not buckling under to the heavy-handed tactics of the Bush administration.”
Kastelein’s praise and reference to “bad press” capture the two faces of Qwest: the defender – of privacy – and the defendant – in securities litigation.
Earlier the site was also covered in the Salt Lake Tribune
“By Thursday afternoon, a Web site had gone up called thankyouqwest.org, which encouraged visitors to contact the company’s chief ethics officer to express their appreciation for so-called “NSA-free” phone service.”
And in Seattle’s The Stranger who bill themselves as Seattle’s Only Newspaper.
That Didn’t Take Long. This new web site thanks Qwest for not turning over its customers’ phone records to the NSA
As neither Chris nor I expected the site to have think kind of impact – he didn’t do the copy… I did which is why it’s not in the more prosaic style associated with Empire Burlesque. He’s going to do a rewrite sometime today (I hope).
At thankyouqwest.org, we make it clear where the ‘roots’ of the idea for the site came from.
Members of Daily Kos formed an action group to push people to recognize the gravity of Qwest’s action.
This site is part of that action.
I know some at don’t agree with giving Kudos to Qwest due to alleged poor service and prior business problems but as orthogonal put it oh so well in the action thread.
Who cares why Qwest stood up?
I DON’T CARE why Qwest, in the face of what had to be enormous government pressure, didn’t cave in.
I’m JUST GLAD they did the right thing.
If I have to put up with some MINOR INCONVENIENCE to keep my SACRED LIBERTIES, that’s a small price to pay.
The Founders pledged their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor” to secure those rights for all Americans. I think I can at least put up with an unresponsive DNS server.
These are our rights, our children’s POSTERITY we’re trying to protect. Many Americans have given their lives for these rights.
If we don’t reward Qwest for taking the right stand, we’re telling the neo-cons and the world that America prefers having a dial tone over its LIBERTY.
The neo-cons are watching to see which we care about more. We need to show them we stand for Liberty, or we’ll just encourage more of their encroachments.
As for the blogads? We decided to put them in to drive up our numbers and make our current advertisers happy, yes. And its also good for blogads in general.
Like most ‘almost’ A-list bloggers, we operate at a loss and blog for the love of it with the feeling we are part of the solution on the path to political change in the United States. Which is not only important to the majority of Americans, but also to the world. The current American Republican government is doing everything it can to dismantle American democracy internally and internationally vis a vis ignoring International Law. And it is creating a disastrous situation in the Middle East that resonates for all of humanity.
Qwest’s [AKA Qworst in this area] actions are indeed laudable, and I agree that they should be acknowledged. However, that praise should not be construed, in any way, as resurrecting Nacchio’s well deserved virulent reputation.
He is, frankly, no better than ‘Kenny-Boy’ Lay, and, would, no doubt, like to take full credit for this action in order to bolster his defense. Although, it is extremely unlikely that he will ever be perceived as a Knight in shining armour.
Peace
Naccio certainly does has a nasty reputation – but, he also appears to be a complex human. His stance on rebuffing the NSA is commendable, and some of his other actions are not.
There is now talk that at least some of his problems in 2002 can be linked to arm twisting from the administration.
The act in itself – is really what is to be lauded. Qwest did not capitulate. And now they most likely will be rewarded. As far as I can tell by the comments and the ‘buzz’.
I think we’re on the same page here, and I do not want to hijack this thread by making Nacchio an issue, but for informational purposes, here’s why he has a nasty reputation: LINK
42 counts of massive financial disclosure fraud, including insider trading, from 1999-2002, which netted him, personally, $176.5M, resulted in over $3B of fraudulently booked ‘profits’ to Qwest…(settled w/ SEC for a $250M fine and no admission of wrong doing).
If this was, indeed, payback, then it only goes to prove the adage: no honor among thieves.
Peace
And now there’s a thread at DK which has most of Naccio’s problems pegged with payback over initially refusing to embrace the NSA.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/13/142215/824
And then there’s the Carlyle Group owns Qwest crowd.
http://sideshow.me.uk/smay06.htm#05131250
I doubt we will ever never know if if Qwest’s Nacchio defied the government because he is a miscreant- or because he was targeted by federal prosecutors because of his stance on the warrantless NSA program.
We are pretty much on the same side of the court – I agree. There’s a lot of murkiness in the background… but right now, up front – it’s clear that Qwest refused to give up the records the Bush administration was pushing for.
And the story would be, frankly, a lot less dynamic without a ‘hero’. The public outrage factor is being multiplied with the lone fighter meme.
And if anything. I give Qwest credit for that.
I was listening to “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” on NPR today and they were joking about the phone records thing. They said that now all the FBI has to do is camp out in the New Accounts office of Qwest to see who switches phone service, and anyone who does will instantly be under suspicion as a terrorist. Pretty funny, but probably true.
35% of Americans are upset of phone # disclosures. That is a big market. I’ve been trying to give them my buisness, but apparently they are not in this area. I can only assume that lots of people would switch if Qwest was nation wide. Those companies that betrayed the trust of their customers must pay a price.
In a circulatory dance of MSM and viral Net linking – the kudos site appears to been part of the 180 degree turn of the public image of Qwest – a company that has hovered with the likes of Global Crossing and Enron in the basement of public opinion. The NYT’s wrote that Qwest’s Ex-Chief Is Suddenly Cast as Defender of Privacy referring to the real time Net and thankyouqwest.org as a source for the new ‘casting’ of former Qwest executive, Joseph P. Nacchio, a corporate bottom feeder who was fourth on the TSC’s Ten Most Wanted on Wall Street’s list.
And the NYT is now saying :
Commenters at thankyouqwest.org are not only stating they have or want to switch to Qwest – they are even pitching stock advice.
Judging by the overwhelming number of bloggers that have helped create a positive buzz about Qwest – one has to wonder how much it will affect the corporations involved – whether is be loss/gain of client base or drop/rise in stock value? How much can the Net buzz affect a major corporation like Qwest?
Are we looking at a future where ADSDAQ meets Blogshares? – where information really becomes a commodity to be traded and speculated on? Where reactionary sites and communities are almost instantly built based on political or corporate news events and in turn are considered litmus for public reaction?
Other concepts that may cause ripples in the future include BuyBlue – which is forming a significant online community around their mission – to support businesses that share their progressive values and ideals. ‘Vote with your money’ is their motto.
It appears, at least by technorati buzz and thankyouqwest.org that many are clearly putting their money where their mouths are.
Kind of mulling an article idea…
NYT picked this up again this morning.
“Thank you Qwest! It’s nice to see someone following principle over profits,” wrote a user named Terra at ThankyouQwest.org, a Web site hastily erected by the purveyors of the left-wing blog Empire Burlesque. “When will you have cell service in Ohio?”
“Thank you Qwest,” wrote one commenter who was not really with the program at ThankyouQwest.com. “What will your next advertising campaign be — ‘Qwest: Telecom provider to the terrorists’? Well done.”
If anyone is watching CNN Situation Room
Can someone let me know if they plug Empire Burlesque?
They just talked to Chris and we can’t get it here on this side of the pond.