Austin , Texas ( CNN ) -- When speaking to the tech-savvy attendees of South by Southwest Interactive , it does n't hurt to lead with a Web reference -- even if you 're the former vice president . `` Our democracy has been hacked , '' said Al Gore . `` It no longer works , in the main , to serve the interests of our people . '' Gore joined Sean Parker , the mind behind Napster and founding president of Facebook , on a two-man panel at the digital festival Monday during which both decried the influence of money in politics and pointed to the Internet as the answer . Parker , whose Napster nearly single-handedly started a revolution in how people acquire and consume music , alluded to his past during the hour-long talk before an overflow crowd of about 5,000 . `` The Internet is incredibly good at taking money out of existing industries , '' he told the capacity audience of more than 3,000 . `` My hope is that the Internet can do for the political process what it did for the copyright industries . '' Parker is a backer and board member of Votizen , a site started in 2010 to help users parlay their social networks into political activism . In 2007 , he also co-founded Causes , a site that applies similar principles to fundraising for nonprofits and has raised $ 40 million for over 27,000 organizations . Gore , who in addition to his well-documented environmental activism is a technology investor and founder of Current TV , pointed to recent examples of Web-enabled activism -- from the Web 's role in democratic reform in Egypt to successful protests of the Susan G. Komen Foundation after it pulled funding for Planned Parenthood . But he and Parker noted that , in the next generation of Web activism , there needs to be a way to strengthen engagement beyond merely putting a digital signature on an online petition or clicking `` like '' on Facebook . `` It 's not enough to take that small action online , '' Parker said . `` A referral or notification is not really the same thing as showing up at a protest or actually opening up your wallet . '' While blasting the Supreme Court 's ruling in the Citizens United case that allowed for big-money `` super PACs '' in political campaigns -- `` a Supreme Court I have not always agreed with , '' said the 2000 presidential nominee -- Gore said that successful political activism online can decrease the influence of money from special interests . `` When we win the conversation , then the pressure can be put on the politicians and elected officials to do the right thing , '' Gore said . Parker said the way online communities rose up to ultimately derail the Stop Online Piracy Act ( which many felt would have clamped down on Web freedom ) is heartening , even if he 's not sure exactly what form future efforts will take . ( He called apathy in tech circles `` somewhat pathetic '' before that , but that SOPA `` awakened that sleeping giant . '' `` There are a lot of really smart hackers in this audience , '' Parker said . `` We need to put our heads together and take control of this system ... before the slow-thinking incumbents ... know what 's happening . ''
Al Gore : 'Our democracy is being hacked ' and the Web can help . Gore and Napster founder Sean Parker spoke at South by Southwest Interactive . Both say money is too prevalent in politics and the Web needs to balance that . Parker founded Votizen to help turn social networks into political activism .