What would happen if Silicon Valley’s social media, start-up and high tech insiders begin marshaling brainpower and collective clout for tougher gun controls in the wake of the tragic Newtown shootings?
We may soon find out, thanks to a new effort headed by San Francisco Bay Area angel investor Ron Conway – who hit on the idea last week after a meeting with former Arizona Rep. Gabbie Giffords — the victim of an assassination attempt.
Conway is at the forefront of a movement calling for a web blackout that would join with a national moment of silence Friday at 9:30 am ET (6:30 a.m. PST) in recognition of the Newtown shooting.
Organizers call it “a first step organized by a loose but determined confederation of individuals in the technology community who came together last weekend unified by their interest to limit gun violence.”
Already, some 100,000 have promised to participate, including former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ryan Seacrest, Britney Spears, Sean Parker, MC Hammer, Suze Orman, Tyler Florence, Joe Montana, Goldie Hawn and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.
Among the websites taking part: AOL, Adobe, Appnexus, Betaworks, Causes,
digg, Duke University, fancyhands, Foursquare, getclever, gilt, Jawbone, kno, neighborland, pandodaily, patch, smugmug,TechCrunch, Turntable.fm, Venturebeat and YCombinator.
And more are being invited: click on this link www.causes.com/momentforsandyhook to join the effort.
Here’s the mechanism to black out a Web site for the moment of silence: http://webmomentofsilence.org
And according to organizers, “those with websites or blogs are also spreading the word by placing this moment of silence badge (link: http://www.causes.com/nmosembeds) on their sites.”
Conway told pandodaily.com that he intends to devote himself to the issue of reducing gun violence “24/7″ until Congress acts.
Sarah Lacy, author of a piece today on that site, writes:
“This isn’t one of those turning your Twitter avatar green movements. Conway has vowed that this is going to rumble through the start-up community until change happens.”
“This community has long had trouble separating personal from professional. Most friends are also investors, employees, or competitors, and most companies spring from a personal desire to see something exist in the world. It’s no surprise that having been awakened, Silicon Valley political activism is taking a similar path,” she writes.
The Valley has gained the attention of lawmakers for lots of reasons — political money being part of that mix.
Interesting to see if this sparks some action on Capitol Hill.
We’ll watch — and update.