eBay

good article on politics and the internet:

“But the Internet is fundamentally changing politics, but in unflashy ways that parallel what has happened in the business world. After the dot-com crash, two types of businesses have principally thrived by using the ‘net: Businesses that do old things in new ways that rely on the Internet’s unquestionable ability to increase the speed and quantity of information flows, such as eBay, and old economy firms, such as UPS, that use the Internet to do what they’re already doing better, faster, and more efficiently—-for instance, linking suppliers and distributors in just-in-time inventory systems.

In politics, it’s very much the same. What matters is using basic new technology to do old things better, and focusing on substance, not on how sexy a web page can be. “A campaign Web site is a receptionist’s office. The really interesting stuff is occurring on the back end and through email,” says Michael Cornfield, a George Washington University professor currently writing a book about the Internet and elections.”

More at: Machined Politics: How the Internet is really, truly—-seriously!—going to change elections

Something from an interview with Harry Shearer, from March 2002:

Let’s get back to politics. How about Dick Cheney having to hand over documents about his energy task force and policies? A step in the right direction?

If you live long enough, one of the rewards is to get the privilege of seeing each political cliche mouthed in turn by partisans from each side. So that the same people who were desperately demanding that we know chapter and verse about Hillary Clinton’s top-secret healthcare task force are now saying, “No, no, no, confidentiality, it’s an important principle.” And vice versa.

It explains why, or it’s a consequence of the fact that most of our politicians are trained as lawyers. Because that’s exactly what lawyers are trained to do: Take this side, all right, now take this side. That’s what they do. And anybody who thinks that they’re doing anything else is welcome to bid for some Enron stock certificates on eBay, because that is the game.

AuctionMart seems to be an excellent application of the internet to an old problem. Seems like every Respiratory Therapy Department I ever worked in had equipment which was in disuse, but was perfectly functional. These were untapped resources, which could be easily sold to other facilities which could use them. In return the selling department can use the generated revenue to get equipment they can use. The internet enables geographically distant places to carry out these transactions.

And yes, eBay does the same thing with, say, Beanie Babies.