Politico has a pretty thorough article on D.C.’s thorough ignorance of things tech ^[1].

Take a 2008 hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee about privacy and online behavior-based advertising. The discussion seemed to fall apart when Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and others seemed not to understand the term “cookies.”

Cookies. That’s the (utterly rudimentary) technology that was an issue a decade ago. Washington, D.C. naturally overreacted, but luckily only harmed itself. The White House recently revamped the cookie policy for federal government web sites ^[2].

It’s worth noting Tech’s thorough misapprehension of Washington, D.C. as well. Judging by how they act, most tech executives have all the insight they could pick up from Schoolhouse Rock ^[3]. It seems cool and helpful to come to Washington and give money, so they do, encouraging the bears to rip open their cars ^[4] looking for peanut butter.