Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

8 of 715 comments (clear)

  1. 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

  2. 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"?

  3. 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...

  4. 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.

    --
    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  5. 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.

  6. 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

  7. 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.