Democrats - here's how to get my contribution

I want to contribute to the Democratic Party. Or, maybe I'd rather contribute to the Republic Party. Or the American Socialist, Whatever. (OK, the Democrats, right now - but that's not my real point). But I don't, because I am pretty sure that I'd be putting myself on a "known donors list" and would be subjected to an unending barrage of "thank you for your previous support ..." pleas for more money.

I know they have to have traceability on the contributions, so an anonymous PayPal account won't do. But if they at least would *promise* to not use the contact info for any future direct fundraising contacts ... if they would explicitly state "we don't think this creates an existing relationship we can try and take advantage of later" ... then they would get my small/impulse donations when an issue-of-the-day touches me.

Net Neutrality and torrents?

I see content companies adopting torrent technologies to distribute big media - I wonder how that works out with 'net neutrality' ideas of source-selected QoS? If the telcos get a "fast lane" tariff, how do they provide that service to companies which elect to distribute through a bunch of re-distributors ...

One way eBay can leverage Skype in core business

Auctions. The way they were.

Seller: List an item on eBay. Request a Skype-based audio auction; set option for mimimum number participants.

eBay: Assign auctioneer (maybe this could be an automated IVR system? or an "eBay certified" person/Partner?). Assign time (standard times, premium times). Have a button for "join auction."

Shoppers: join auction using Skype. State bids, which are audible to all and are text-to-speech transcribed into chat notes (and currency-converted for each auction member). If win, use PayPal.

Could be fun ... launch with a big charity auction, get some celebs to participate in real time.