Separate Technology and Politics? How?Separate Technology and Politics? How?

Yesterday in my e-mail newsletter I happened to mention the President and lying in the same sentence. (You can read the piece here.) I've received a few responses taking me to task for mixing technology and politics. Nick Purdin's note was typical.Mr. Purdin wrote:

Thanks for the backhanded compliment, Mr. Purdin (". . . the technical stuff you actually know . . ."). Unfortunately, I find it increasingly hard to tell the difference between technology and politics, especially with Microsoft, Yahoo and the Justice Department playing politics with things like my search-engine queries. Take a look at this, which I found first via the estimable John Battelle's Searchblog. It's heavy-handed, but it makes its point.

What I was taught in school is that politics is the process by which we, the citizens, make decisions on the issues that face our country. Right now, many of those issues are technological -- I'll mention network neutrality and patent law as two of the less contentious. If those of us who know the technical stuff don't get involved with those issues, we deserve what we get.