'Brigade' Wants to Do to Politics What Napster Did to Music

The influence of Silicon Valley has, for better or worse, convinced many of its established players and aspirants that the world's problems need technological innovation, not governmental stagnation.

So, it's with some sense of wonder to watch Sean Parker—the outsized personality behind Napster, Facebook, and Spotify—invest in Brigade, a startup aimed at fostering political engagement, especially voter turnout. Indeed, the Valley's libertarian streak runs deep. If anyone can disrupt government, it's the tech industry, right?  Politico reports that Parker will step in as Brigade's CEO and chairman, with Ron Conway and Marc Benioff functioning as two other big-time investors. Parker will also be joined by Adam Conner, who will be Brigade's vice president of politics after a stint as Facebook's Washington, DC evangelist. John Thrall, a former Yahoo engineer, will be the company’s vice president of engineering, while former LinkedIn Senior Vice President David Henke will serve on the Brigade board.

It would be interesting to know if Parker actually believes politics can be revolutionized by technology. Or maybe it's just an opportunity to cynically leverage the power of users' political data, using perhaps a groundswell of social media, and sell it to political and other types of advertisers?

Granted, Twitter, Facebook, and other apps have indeed allowed protesters, revolutionaries, and regular old folks to organize and change government—up to a point. Internet-based protests like the anti-SOPA movement definitely had a powerful impact on the legislative process. And, of course, Obama's 2008 presidential campaign was widely credited with having leveraged the internet to build voter awareness and fundraising numbers. But, success in a few areas doesn't imply the same in other political arenas.

[Politico's source stated](http://Politico reports that Parker) that Brigade will target voter apathy and other "underlying societal problems that make it difficult for citizens to engage in government." Maybe this is the place to start. But, Parker may want to take some time to study the nature of the political process. The answers to political questions are as many as they are complex. Sometimes there aren't any answers, just stalemate. And voter turnout does not address political backroom dealing and lobbying, two of the most powerful forces in lawmaking, and ones that defy the power of voter turnout.

So, as noble a goal as getting people to the polls might be, it's only half the battle. Informed voting is by far the most important issue in electoral politics, regardless of one's position on the political spectrum. A 2007 Pew survey found that Americans' knowledge of politics hasn't changed much since the near-simultaneous revolutions in cable news and internet news consumption.

Indeed, the internet has been a double-edged sword for political literacy. Some users can find sources of objective information and data (on politicians, laws, lobbyists, etc.), while others—such as the 30 percent of Facebook users who get their news on the site—content themselves with refreshing feeds that may or may not include objective commentary and information.

As 2008 Pew research on the internet's role in politics indicated: "A decent share of online adults say that the internet has helped them be more involved in the campaign and feel more personally connected to their candidate of choice, yet even larger numbers feel that the internet is a megaphone for extreme viewpoints and a source of misinformation for many voters." That last bit is telling. In the internet age, the maxim "believe half of what you see and none of what you hear" takes on new meaning.

And if Brigade fixates on tech-related issues, then there is also the chance that those who interact with it will skew toward Silicon Valley's techno-libertarianism. If Brigade is to have a real impact, it must exist beyond ideology. It will have to rely on solid data and be as fair and balanced as possible—a place where the right, the left, and everyone in between can co-exist. Then it might have a chance of changing politics for the better, although I won't be betting on it.