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How Tech-Savvy Will the Next President Be?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the let-the-debate-begin dept.

CorinneI writes "We've got our candidates. We know their positions on the major issues of the day — healthcare, the Iraq war, the economy, yada, yada, yada. But Senators McCain and Obama will also have to be concerned with tech issues. Where do they stand on Net neutrality, patent protection, piracy, broadband, privacy, and H1B visas? Do their campaign positions match up with their voting records and public statements? Here's how they stack up on the big five tech issues of the day."

19 of 715 comments (clear)

  1. On a purely I.P. issue let me say by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1, Informative

    thank goodness Hillary wasn't elected. she sounds totally in the pocket of hollywood.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  2. summary by bornyesterday · · Score: 5, Informative

    Net neutrality:
    McCain - let the markets handle it
    Obama - legislate it

    Broadband Availability:
    McCain - increased access via competition
    Obama - re-define 'broadband', move toward universal service, increase availability at schools & libraries

    H1B visas:
    McCain - increase the number of them
    Obama - full immigration overhaul, produce more American-born tech workers, make workers less dependent on their employers

    Intellectual Property Protection:
    McCain - gov't handles blatant abuses, works against protectionism
    Obama - increase cooperation on international standards

    Privacy:
    McCain - immunity for companies that cooperated with warrentless wiretapping
    Obama - expand the FTC to cooperate with international agencies to track cyber-criminals

  3. Re:Does the President have to know about this stuf by jandrese · · Score: 2, Informative

    This argument would be better if it wasn't one of the major arguments I heard repeatedly back in 2000 for George W. Bush.

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
  4. This isn't Insightful.. It's disgusting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative
    I don't know why shit like this is considered insightful on slashdot.


    Here are his income tax returns for the last two years. Maybe you can do the analysis yourself and see if there's something that would support your wild and baseless accusation. You know, because claiming McCain is just trading votes for cash and being corrupt does require a bit of evidence and proof.

    I'm waiting...

    1. Re:This isn't Insightful.. It's disgusting... by KevinKnSC · · Score: 5, Informative

      Maybe we should look at campaign contributions instead. Hmm, notice any telecom companies accused of illegal domestic spying on his "top 5 contributors"?

    2. Re:This isn't Insightful.. It's disgusting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
      Well...let's look at all of AT&T's top recipients. Hmm....notice any other presidiential candiates on the top 3?

    3. Re:This isn't Insightful.. It's disgusting... by DittoBox · · Score: 2, Informative

      Wait...huh?

      Big government is what started the problem with telco spying in the first place. As a small government endorser I say sue the f**ckers into oblivion.

      Small government types don't like telco monopolies just like they don't like government running the telcos either. Small government types don't like domestic spying (or outside spying except in times of declared war etc.).

      Neo-cons might think they're small government but their policies are just as big government, if not more so, than liberal democrats. Neocons just like giant corporate bureaucracies doing the government's dirty work. And they're war-mongers too, but that's beside the point.

      --
      Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two.
  5. Re:Nothing to see here folks by nickhart · · Score: 5, Informative

    Does that about sum it up?

    Not quite. You forgot to add the vast sums of money to the equation.

    Obama: $4,022,006 (TV/Movies/Music) + $3,060,630 (Computers/Internet) = $7,082,636

    McCain: $636,046 (TV/Movies/Music) + $629,315 (Computers/Internet) = $1,265,361

    Gee, I wonder who's going to be listening harder to what the RIAA, telcos and other technology sector players have to say...

  6. Re:What about the 2nd? by rsmoody · · Score: 4, Informative
    I don't get your point. Are you trying to say that because some people are criminals that we should do away with the second amendment? Because that's really worked out quite well for the armed robbers in Australia since they banned law abiding citizens from owning weapons; armed robberies are up 44%. In Victoria, gun homicides are up 300%! Source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=15304. Banning guns only disarms the law abiding citizens, the criminals don't care about one more law, never have, never will.


    Now, if you are somehow saying that I would think that the Black Panthers should have not been allowed to have guns when they were trying to defend themselves against abusive cops, it all boils down to who was breaking the law. The cops were certainly out of line, but I am not convinced the use of deadly force was the correct response there. The time and place to use deadly force is narrowly defined, read "In the Gravest Extreme" for more information. Now, mark me as over-rated and flame bait.

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    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  7. Opensecrets.org by skwang · · Score: 5, Informative

    I suspect the original poster is trying to imply an illegal link between the candidate and industry. I can't comment if one exists. But what I recommend is you go to Center for Responsive Politics which will tell you where the source of campaign contributions of all presidential candidates.

    The Web site aggregates company donations by industrial sector. Thus to see which candidate gets the most money from "Telephone Utilities" you can try clicking on this link: Telephone Utility Totals to Candidates As you can see Sen. McCain has received $345,945 from said utilities while Sen. Obama has received $203,546.

    Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

    N.B. I should note that the last election fund-raising report was due on 20-May-2008 and that was for donations received in April, so the information on this Web site is usually two months old.

  8. Re:Nothing to see here folks by irenaeous · · Score: 2, Informative

    I found this interesting:

    "While 47 percent of what Obama raised last year came from donors who gave less than $200, those small contributors made up just 15 percent of Clinton's donor base. In January, when Obama swamped Clinton by raising $32 million, compared to her $13 million, the vast majority of his total -- $28 million -- came over the Internet."

    The quote is from a Washington Post Article. I am not an Obama supporter, but on Tech issues, he is vastly superior to the other two. His answers in TFA reflect an understanding of the issues. His campaign's skilled use of internet fund raising reflects real savy. His campaign is historic in this regard.

    On the plus side, no one could be worse than President Bush has been on Tech issues, so either candidate is bound to be an improvement.

  9. Re:Nothing to see here folks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Obama: 264 M total raised
    McCain: 88 M total raised

    calculated from opensecrets.org

    Obama : 1.5% (TV/Movies/Music) + 1.1% (Computers/Internet) = 2.6%
    McCain : 0.7% (TV/Movies/Music) + 0.7% (Computers/Internet) = 1.5%

    I think the percentages kinda make your FUD lose a little steam

  10. Re:What about the 2nd? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    In a self-protection need, I can slap a clip into a semi-auto, pull the slide, and be ready to go... Jesus H. You realize you don't live in a zombie movie, right?
  11. Liar by spun · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've participated in more far left rallies than you have ever seen or heard about, and I can say with authority that you are a liar. I've been stomped on by police for trying to peacefully hand out free food to the homeless. We aren't the ones that start the violence against other people.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  12. Re:What about the 2nd? by laddiebuck · · Score: 2, Informative

    The second war was actually started by America and not because of provocation. There were a lot of warmongers in Washington at the time.

  13. Re:What about the 2nd? by floateyedumpi · · Score: 4, Informative
    A University commissioned report on the effectiveness of the Australian gun buy-back program concluded as follows:

    In 2007, researchers at the Australian National University reported "There were on average 250 fewer firearm deaths per year after the implementation of the National Firearms Agreement than would have been expected," Statistics are funny things.
  14. Re:Does the President have to know about this stuf by Woundweavr · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yes he was.

  15. Re:What about the 2nd? by Hubbell · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm honestly getting sick of people saying 'second hand smoke kills' because it doesn't. It fucking doesn't. The EPA report that claimed it did has been proven to have been falsified / tampered with time after time. The only possible way second hand smoke kills/is more harmful than actually smoking the cigarette is if you are in a room that's been clambaked to the point of being unable to see more than a foot or so, and sitting in it for a prolonged period of time. Other than that, you are not inhaling more poisonous shit than the smoker as all that stuff dissipates into the air rather quickly.

  16. Obama invented electricity by gelfling · · Score: 3, Informative

    And is the transdimensional messiah. He has no need of puny human devices like 'technology'.