Is there anybody out there?

Note: The following may have been published in the "letters to the editor" section of The Roanoke Times prior to publication here.

I now have a clear understanding of where Senator Jim Webb stands on the issue of pirates in Somalia. The only problem being, I never asked him about Somali pirates.

When the issue of net neutrality was again before congress back in August, I felt inclined to write both Senator Webb and Senator Warner and express my fervent opposition to ending net neutrality, which would constrict bandwidth usage and tier Internet pricing under the guise of fighting digital piracy.

It seems that just as there are few books on digital piracy compared to piracy on the high seas, Senator Webb's keyword program used to reply with pre-fab statements about popular issues must have thought I was expressing concern over swashbucklers thousands of miles away and not profiteering by Internet service providers here at home.

We are led to believe that - if we have a problem with the state of the union - that we should write our congressmen. As voting, tax-paying citizens, this is the most efficacious act toward getting our voices heard. Indeed, I am not the only one who has bought this idea, since - in the automated response just after sending my email to Senator Webb - he writes: "[M]ore than 100,000 Virginians will send their ideas directly to me this year." Apparently claiming popular high ground, the auto-response from Senator Warner read that: "Since we opened our doors on January 6, we have been contacted more than 400,000 times by individuals from across the Commonwealth."

So while it's clear that computer technology has allowed for more responses from citizens, receiving an email months after my inquiry that has nothing at all to do with my subject does little to convince me that our voices are being heard. Indeed, I received nothing from Senator Warner after the auto-response, but I think I'd prefer silence to a response that makes it quite clear that nothing I said mattered. Silence could at least convince me that the time and thought I put into voicing my very valid points didn't queue up in some auto-response generator that made a best guess at what I wrote.

But I'm the last person to rail against technology, given its wonderful outcomes in communication and education. Even now, it lets me know that my concerns remain unheeded by my congressmen. At least I can save myself the time of bothering in the future.