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McCain Releases Technology Platform

Posted by Soulskill on from the version-0.982-beta dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "John McCain has finally released a technology platform. Most of it is the same old stuff; lower corporate taxes, protect children from porn, and avoid Internet regulation unless 'necessary.' Alas, in his view, helping the RIAA's War on Sharing is necessary to stop the 'global epidemic' of piracy, while Net Neutrality is something he 'does not believe in.' Ars Technica has a review of McCain's platform." A brief analysis is also available from Federal Computer Week. In addition to the technology policy, McCain has also released a paper describing his stance on security and privacy. We've previously contrasted his views with those of Barack Obama. Obama's technology policies are also available online.

55 of 479 comments (clear)

  1. RE: McCain Releases Technology Platform by thomasdz · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh great. Yet another Linux distribution that www.distrowatch.org is going to have to track. "McCain-ix"
    Probably needs 1GB just to load. I'll stick with Obama-mama-ix thanks.

    --
    Karma: Excellent. 15 moderator points expire sometime.
  2. Worthless ... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 4, Informative

    Sounds to me like McCain's "platform" is centered around trying save a sinking ship. That's too bad. He's lost my vote on that issue alone.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    1. Re:Worthless ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you are basing your vote solely on technological issues in a presidential election, you really need to get out more. There are much more important issues that the President should be considered about (economy, jobs, defense, etc).

    2. Re:Worthless ... by iminplaya · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And McCain is a big loser on all those fronts also. The economy is not his bag, man. Said so himself. Be ready to bail out another Lincoln Savings and Loan or three. And He's a warmonger. Not that the other guy is actually any better. Time to vote the party out.

      --
      What?
    3. Re:Worthless ... by crmarvin42 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe I'm just reading different posts than you are but I can't recall the last time I saw a post supporting a conservative view point that didn't get flamed.

      I'm a registered Republican, so maybe I'm just focusing on the posts I agree with that get tarred and feathered, and the ones I strongly disagree with that keep getting modded +5 insightful.

      --
      Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.-Oscar Wilde
    4. Re:Worthless ... by Dr.Dubious+DDQ · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's worth remembering that technology is a huge factor in the US economy, jobs, defence, (privacy/spying, civil rights, scientific progress...) etc. - so the topic is quite important.

      --
      Hacker Public Radio is our Friend
    5. Re:Worthless ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'll reply to this as an AC rather than moderating you then. The average political post seems to center around a few things...

      1. Protection of the little guy - stop allowing big corporations to use the law/lobbying to create an unfair environment. See DRM, Patent trolls, subsidies given without stipulation and no-bid contracts. Most think it's ridiculous you can patent a seed to which you found in a government vault, which they obtained from the wild. You can.

      Enforcing a free market is a conservative value.

      2. Government staying out of our personal lives. This would fall under the small government category/give us personal freedoms. These are views in keeping with the constitution/bill of rights. I'd say that the constitution has a Libertarian feel to it. This isn't the viewpoint of the Republican party, so you have us there.

      3. Most of us don't seem to be for most welfare in it's current state, view SS and medicade as a fiscal disaster in need of much revamping, etc. Conservative/Libertarian.

      I think in general we're all for a competent government, whatever form that may be, so long as it will stay competent/for the people. As a Republican you do realize that in the past 20 years, your party has changed drastically. Government debt goes up the most during your terms, often setting new records. Not fiscally conservative.

      In terms of the past 8 years, we're tired of the government being very competent at taking away the rights we're guaranteed to have in that "goddamned piece of paper". We're tired of how competent they are at lying, but incompetent they are at leading. They're experts at returning favors for those who gave them money or ran their political party, but they fail horribly of their ONLY responsibility, which is to uphold and defend that piece of paper. They spit on the hundreds of thousands who have died to defend this country and its ideals and the people who have given them the power in the first place.

      Maybe that's why we appear liberal. We cannot stand the current adminstration, and if your quote is any indication, you are a traditional republican. I suggest you check out the Libertarian party's main points, http://www.lp.org/platform, as they are more in line with traditional Republican viewpoints. The one main area you might disagree on is the US's role in the world.

    6. Re:Worthless ... by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Insightful

      He needs to be in a retirement home, not the Whitehouse

      Yes, we're much better off with a president who thinks we should have the UN Security Council issue Very Stern Words towards Russia over their actions in Georgia... you know, a president who doesn't understand that Russia has a veto-enabled seat there, and can simply shut such things down. It's that sort of clueless grasp on foreign relations and international issues that makes an inexperienced smoke-blower like Obama a non-starter. Compare their initial reactions to that turn of events. McCain spoke his mind immediately, and has not changed it. Obama started out with a "why can't we all just get along - they need to show restraint" comment, and complained that McCain was "shooting from the hip" and being too aggressive in criticizing Russia. A day later? Obama had "refined" his position to echo exactly what McCain (who actually understands what's going on and who the players are) had already articulated.

      Doesn't matter, right? Change! All we need is Change! Doesn't matter from what, or to what, of course. Just CHANGE! Change we can "believe in!" What a bunch of vague, useless, pandering crap. When forced to actually talk detailed substance, Obama has to give in face real issues realistically, and it annoys his leftist supporters who like him most when he's a blank slate that they think will do what they tell him to. If he actually gets the job, they're in for a real shock, because even though he's going to fall on is face learning as he goes, by the time he actually gets around to doing the job of C-in-C, he's going to have to do a lot of back pedaling on his vaporous campaign semi-promises.

      Being old enough to know how things work and what's actually at stake is bad as far as you're concerned? I'm sure you'd rather the office of president was available to college freshmen.

      the technology they are about to regulate

      Do you actually even understand what Congress does, and which party is running it? Maybe if you weren't so old, your mind would be clearer.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    7. Re:Worthless ... by Das+Modell · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Slashdot is generally pretty right-libertarian leaning. Hardly 80% strongly liberal.

      I want to have whatever it is that you're smoking/injecting/snorting. If you say anything on Slashdot that does not strictly adhere to liberal-leftist religious dogma, you get modded down. Simple as that.

    8. Re:Worthless ... by smidget2k4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You're right, we need a President who is very concerned about the Iraq/Pakistan border. I'd also like him confuse Sudan and Somalia, after all, they are like the same thing, right?

      McCain, at one point, may have known his stuff. But he has lost it. There is already a very long list of these gaffes. Is this the kind of face you want America to have?

    9. Re:Worthless ... by fugue · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Why is it not OK for a presidential candidate to admit that he doesn't know something? I'm sick to death of people who think they have to pretend to know everything all the time.

      Not that McCain is worth the electrons I just encoded his name with, but in my book he scored one point for being aware of his ignorance. Seems a nice change from Republican policy. And Democratic policy, for that matter, although they are on average approximately 23% less ignorant than Republicans...

      --
      "The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."
    10. Re:Worthless ... by Wildclaw · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There is a huge presence of people on slashdot who value personal freedom and expression. These range mostly from economical libertarians to free thinking liberals.

      Slashdot libertarians will often find a very nice support when it comes to issues of personal freedom but will be surprised when they don't get the same support on their economical ideas.

      Democrats can do fine as long as they stay away from authoritarian baby sitting. Sure, libertarians will call any income redistribution authoritarian, but you can't please everyone.

      Republicans can do ok, as long as they actually strive for a smaller goverment and don't promote war and other actions that are seen as authoritarian.

      You can probably even get modded up promoting far left economics as long as you actually talk intelligently, like including suggestions on how to exploit the best part of the free market (scarce resource distribution efficency). However, if you want to promote authoritarian ruling you will get modded down pretty quickly. Which is why neither communism nor facism is popular here as both have come to symbolise authoritarian rule.

    11. Re:Worthless ... by kaiser423 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Because he knows so little that he hired Carly Fiorna as one of his chief economic advisers? Does not bode well...

      Doesn't need to be an expert on everything, but it would help if he could actually identify proper experts to hire.

    12. Re:Worthless ... by ScentCone · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Is this the kind of face you want America to have?

      Actually, I want that "face" to be driven by actual principles. Obama avoids showing his at all costs, and when they do show, they're contradictory, or imply a very shaky house-of-cards case of mixed premises. Whatever intellectual horsepower or rhetorical elegance he posesses is being applied to and is in the service of a very patch-work, self-defeating, confused set of principles. THAT is not the face I want America to have. He doesn't know himself, and is very careful to hide how he actually feels about a lot of things, because he knows that he has to tap-dance around issues like his crazy, race-baiting friend the preacher and what tolerating/encouraging him for 20 years (including his children's formative years, listening to him blather every week) says about his world view.

      Are you really looking for a gotcha contest on mispoken names or recollections? Is that how you'll evaluate the deliberative decision-making perspective that a person brings to being the C-in-C? We're not hiring a spokesmodel (though that seems to be what a lot of people think the job is about - how embarassing). People don't need an inspirational president, they need a competent one who actually knows who he is and what he stands for. Leave it to the lefties to imply that it's the government's job to be the source of inspiration and cultural guidance lacking in homes that use their Wii and the Cartoon Network to raise their children. No, I'd rather leave the cultural polishing to the people IN the culture, and have them hire someone as president because he's been around the block enough to do the job right.

      Someone like Obama, who claims to be "post partisan" while in the same breath saying that his political counterparts are idealogically unseparable from "failed ideas" is just plain funny. He's far MORE partisan than his opponent, and utterly slavish to a very loud, far left minority. Is THAT the face you want for America? A poll-following pretty boy who hates to be asked what he really thinks lest he have to actually get pinned down on specifics? No thanks.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    13. Re:Worthless ... by cduffy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Whatever intellectual horsepower or rhetorical elegance he posesses is being applied to and is in the service of a very patch-work, self-defeating, confused set of principles.

      Try "nuanced"; read his second book for a better understanding -- not only of the principals in question, but of the importance of considering multiple points of view (as opposed to only a single, black-and-white view of the world based on one particular set of partisan principals) in making positions.

      Can viewing the world in shades of gray lead to a charge that one must have a (presumptively black-and-white) view which is inconsistent, constantly shifting, "patch-work" or "self-defeating"? I suppose it may... but that doesn't prevent it from being The Right Thing.

    14. Re:Worthless ... by blueg3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The whole thing would go a lot faster if they'd just tell us who they were going to select as their various advisors and whether or not they were going to listen to them.

      Hopefully not too many people are deluded into thinking that the President actually makes his own decisions, rather than leaning heavily on advisors and other departments.

    15. Re:Worthless ... by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Insightful

      shades of gray

      Don't you understand? Obama is completely black-and-white in his assertions that his political opponents are wrong, wrong, wrong about how they see things. His completely, unshakably clear on how wrong everyone else is. That's pretty black-and-white. Saying that one should "consider all sides" while also saying "the side on which my opponents live is wrong, and is a failure, and we must stop it" is - by definition - hypocrisy. He's "considering" other sides just long enough to 100% black-and-white dismiss them. He's NO different than his opponents in that sense, except that he's pandering to the warm-and-fuzzy crowd, who don't pay very close attention, by saying that he's post partisan and open to discussion, etc. He's trying to have it both ways, and that's the simplest demonstration of his immaturity you could ask for. He's happy to entertain multiple points of view, as long their all his, and don't upset the money-raising engine on the far left. This isn't limited to him - all candidates do it. The difference is that even as he's doing it, he's lying about his commitment to not doing it. That's what he's made of: deceit, right out of the gate, on the very thing that he claims makes him different.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    16. Re:Worthless ... by ScentCone · · Score: 5, Informative

      Let me just say that, as someone who's not a US citizen, the fact that you refer to your president as "Commander in Chief" scares me. A lot.

      Why? That's the primary role of that position. People seem VERY confused on this subject. The president doesn't make legislation happen. The president can't tax anyone. The president is one of the three legs of the checks-and-balances system, with the congress and the courts impacting some issues far more than the president can or should.

      The president is the civilian who is in charge of executive tasks, and the defense of the country is first among those. The military and its related services/agencies are the tools of that job.

      I specifically mention the C-in-C part of the job because it's the part that Obama is least suited for. But who decides how much humanitarian aid to fly off of an aircraft carrier into Burma after a disaster? Who made the decision to land aid-payload by military cargo aircraft in Georgia the other day, at what risk of of conflict with the Russians rolling tanks around in that country? The person commanding the military. The commander-in-chief. Who will be issuing orders to withdraw troops from one spot and move them to another as needed? Who will be interacting with the Ukraine, or Poland on military matters? When the Europeans promise more military support in Afghanistan but continue to come up short of delivering, who gets to decide whether and how to make up for that shortcoming, even as girls' schools are being burned down by the Taliban? Such things fall on the president to execute. He's the chief executive, and the commander in chief of a military that includes the Coast Guard as well as the mobile forces. Obama's a concern because of his unfamiliarity (other than complaining about other people) in those areas, and his willingness to make vague policy pronouncements rooted in that ignorance.

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    17. Re:Worthless ... by crmarvin42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Ok, let me get this straight...

      1. My initial post is modded Flamebait because I assert that most posters to Slashdot are ultra Liberal.
      2. It is pointed out to me that my impression of the general slant of Slashdot members is not accurate. (I wouldn't consider that flamebait, but that's just me)
      3. In response to this correction, I admit that my impression is probably colored by my own tendency to focus on certain topics.
      4. You vilify every person in the US who considers themselves conservative, which based on the last presidential election is roughly half of the people that bothered to get out and vote.

      ... And I am the "scumbag"?

      This sort of hostile vilification of those "different from yourself" is the cornerstone of racism/anti-semitism/etc. that lead to political coup's, ethnic cleanings, civil war's, and further intolerance (those who were previously tolerant become intolerant as a defensive measure).

      You're attaching everyone from a political party because of your dissatisfaction with the current administration. You have NO IDEA who I voted for in any election, unless of course you can read minds through the internet. You don't know whether or not I agree with any stance that the current administration has made, or whether I'm a member of the Republican party because or in spite of Bush.

      Like most people I'm conservative on some issues and liberal on others. It's not so black/white as you are making the liberal/conservative issue out to be. I joined the Republican party 10 years ago because the issues that mattered most to me were best represented by the "general" platform of the party, not the platform of any individual politician.

      I think you need to talk to a counselor about your hostility issues, maybe get a valium prescription, get laid, something because your reaction to my post was way over blown and disproportionate.

      --
      Bureaucracy expands to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.-Oscar Wilde
    18. Re:Worthless ... by magus_melchior · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Don't forget he had Phil Gramm, who enabled Enron's outrageous business practices through deregulation-- the same deregulation law is suspected to be a major cause of the credit/subprime crises. Notice, Gramm tried to downplay "recession" hysteria because he helped draft and promote that bill! Gramm's history as far as his position in the campaign is concerned, but his overly business-friendly policies are generally still in place.

      --
      "We are Microsoft. You shall be assimilated. Competition is futile."
    19. Re:Worthless ... by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Interesting

      leaving any kind of tactical decision to those with the experience to do so: the people serving in the armed forces

      But there would BE no tactical decisions to make without strategic decisions about when, where, and why to get the military involved in the first place. Likewise, issues with strategic importance (such as the use of nukes) absolutely have to involve the specific command from the C-in-C. Obviously a smart president is going to defer to his commanders about what's possible, the best way to accomplish a given task, etc. But do you really want military people and only military people deciding when and how to escalate a conflict... when or whether to ship out a new carrier group from one ocean to another? The president would be a fool to ignore input from his commanders, but we'd all be crazy to allow the military to make all such decisions in a vacuum. And of course, you're not always going to be talking about a "declaring war" situation. The crazy jihaddist types have totally learned that lesson. One way to consternate your enemy is avoid giving them a geopolitically concentrated enemy that has any resemblance to historical nation-state foes. Those days are gone (Russia not withstanding).

      --
      Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  3. "protect children from porn, and avoid regulation" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yay for contradictions?

  4. John McCain on blogs by jamie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In 2006, John McCain gave the commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, and took the opportunity to mock individual expression:

    When I was a young man, I was quite infatuated with self-expression, and rightly so because, if memory conveniently serves, I was so much more eloquent, well-informed, and wiser than anyone else I knew. It seemed I understood the world and the purpose of life so much more profoundly than most people. I believed that to be especially true with many of my elders, people whose only accomplishment, as far as I could tell, was that they had been born before me, and, consequently, had suffered some number of years deprived of my insights. I had opinions on everything, and I was always right. I loved to argue, and I could become understandably belligerent with people who lacked the grace and intelligence to agree with me. With my superior qualities so obvious, it was an intolerable hardship to have to suffer fools gladly. So I rarely did. All their resistance to my brilliantly conceived and cogently argued views proved was that they possessed an inferior intellect and a weaker character than God had blessed me with, and I felt it was my clear duty to so inform them. It's a pity that there wasn't a blogosphere then. I would have felt very much at home in the medium.

    His contempt for citizens expressing their views is, presumably, why he introduced legislation that would basically have shut down comments on blogs and on sites like Slashdot. Under John McCain, if you are an individual blogger and you allow user comments or user profiles, you'd have to follow the same reporting rules as an ISP, but you'd be subject to even harsher penalties. The EFF called McCain's bill a "constitutionally dubious proposal ... made apparently mostly based on fear or political considerations."

    1. Re:John McCain on blogs by 4D6963 · · Score: 5, Funny

      "I was so much more eloquent, well-informed, and wiser than anyone else I knew" ... "With my superior qualities so obvious..."

      I knew it from the start! John McCain is a secret elitist!

      By the way, too bad he's not quite sooo eloquent anymore. It could have been useful, for stuff like, making people want to vote for him.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    2. Re:John McCain on blogs by howardd21 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think you missed the point. While it is nice of you to enhance the blogopshere comment with a bold font, that was not his subject. He was obviously speaking about the tendency of youth to dominate the conversation about anything and everything as if they knew the best approach and all others had nothing to offer. In fact, what he is implying here is that it is important to listen, especially to experienced individuals, but listen. That does not reduce the value of a blog, it puts it in context of "where, or from whom,do good ideas come from"?

      --
      no comment
    3. Re:John McCain on blogs by rockout · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'd agree with you, except that right after the blog line McCain said he "would have felt very much at home in the medium", obviously taking a cheap shot at bloggers as people who "dominate the conversation about anything and everything as if they knew the best approach and all others had nothing to offer."

      The original poster very much got his point, methinks.

      --
      I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
    4. Re:John McCain on blogs by ericspinder · · Score: 4, Insightful

      he's mocking what many people perceive to be the stereotypical self-important blogger attitude.

      I believed that to be especially true with many of my elders, people whose only accomplishment, as far as I could tell, was that they had been born before me,

      What I believe he was implying is that children should be seen and not heard. Of course his definition of 'children' seems to extend to all bloggers, regardless of age. Of course the First Amendment gives freedom the press, but doesn't tell us the definition of "Press", but I really doubt if the Framers meant "Government sanctioned and licensed persons"

      --
      The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
    5. Re:John McCain on blogs by jamie · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sorry, but you just quoted McCain being facetious as though he were serious, meaning you didn't get the joke. It's funny. Laugh.

      McCain used exaggerated language to humorous effect. That part's hard to miss.

      What I find more important is that the target of his humor is the ceaseless argumentation on all matters, political and otherwise, that the citizenry engages in when permitted freedom of speech. Contrary to what career politicians would have us believe, there are things worth discussing beyond the pronouncements of our daily papers. There are wrongs to be called out and acts of courage to be heralded. We dredge up our politicians' histories, we compare and contrast, we insult and mourn and challenge not only our opponents' beliefs but our own. We're not polite, because unlike the self-righteous papers' hallowed halls of pretend-land, we talk the way real people talk. Sometimes we persuade, often not, but in large ways or small, we do learn from each other.

      The blogosphere is democracy at its most raw, a ceaseless conversation about the way things are and ought to be, led not from the "top" but by whatever ordinary people want to talk about each day. It's political conversation that, for the first time in thousands of years, actually comes from the people. That worries the entrenched media who for decades have built up undeserved reputations as the arbiters of the news cycle, and the politicians whose unspoken agreements with the media got them where they are.

      I've been a programmer for Slashdot for eight years now. I've spent much of that time writing code to quash abuse without censoring contributions, and support thoughtful comments while discouraging "omg roftl," because goddammit I believe there's something vital and important about what ordinary people have to say. I want to give those people a soapbox, and give their readers the tools to find the most interesting and thought-provoking comments. People with something to say don't need a lecture on prudence and humility from their betters, they need to be encouraged to stand up and join the conversation.

      And politicians like McCain mock them, and mock the way we argue. We're youngsters who show insufficient deference to the hard-won wisdom of our elders. Fuck that shit.

    6. Re:John McCain on blogs by bmajik · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Of Course. This _is_ the "McCain" in "McCain-Feingold" we're talking about, after all.

      Surely you're familiar with the McCain-Feingold "incumbency protection act", who's aim is to create a dubious "protected class" of people for whom the 1st amendment (which protects _political speech_ and no other type) still actually applies.

      For everyone else (people who aren't "real journalists") -- no more 1st amendment rights for you, anytime an election is 6 months (or wahtever the bill says) away.

      McCain Feingold is one of these ridiculous laws that, when examined, seems totally ridiculous and unconstitutional. As a practical matter, I don't think it has had a chilling effect on much of anything. As a theoretical matter, it's one of the reasons why libertarians don't like McCain.

      In many ways the '08 Election is a reverse of the '04 Election. In 04 the Democrats were running a "he's not Bush" candidate, and to be frank that was Kerry's only real qualification.

      McCain is someone who is neither pleasing to conservative republicans nor to libertarians who normally grudgingly fall into the republican camp. He's the "not Obama & not Clinton" vote. Almost everyone I've spoken with is much more interested in "not Obama" than "McCain".

      Oddly enough, the fact that McCain is not squarely in the conservative/republican camp may make him an acceptable president. He obviously doesn't care about pissing off other republicans, and he obviously jumps off traditional conservative/republican dogma when it suits him. The reality of the senate voting record is that McCain has jumped across the aisle to get something done with the Democrats far more often than Obama has broken rank with the progressive agenda to get some reasonably-centerist legislation done by cooperating with Republicans.

      --
      My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
  5. Protect children from porn by 4D6963 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder how he'd go about doing that. Probably the same way they (most of the Republicans) go about protecting children from STDs, by preaching abstinence. Keeping children away from computers would probably work about as well.

    That would be ironic if they preached using parental protection software, which by analogy could be compared to using a condom. Cue the "it's not the same thing" replies.

    --
    You just got troll'd!
    1. Re:Protect children from porn by sakdoctor · · Score: 5, Funny

      The problem is that adults forget what it was like being a kid, and try to hoard all the porn for themselves. This is totally misguided, and kids need porn just as much as the rest of us.

    2. Re:Protect children from porn by 4D6963 · · Score: 4, Funny

      The problem is that adults forget what it was like being a kid, and try to hoard all the porn for themselves. This is totally misguided, and kids need porn just as much as the rest of us.

      But yet more alarmingly, children from unfavoured homes who don't have access to the Internet at home have no means to educate themselves with pornography, causing a dramatic gap in sexual education. Trust me, these days, you don't want to be the only kid on the playground who thinks that "golden showers" have anything to do with Scourge McDuck.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    3. Re:Protect children from porn by 4D6963 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Trust me, these days, you don't want to be the only kid on the playground who thinks that "golden showers" have anything to do with Scourge McDuck.

      Crap, neither do you want to sound like you read a BDSM version of Scrooge McDuck comics.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
    4. Re:Protect children from porn by 4D6963 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Abstinence is the only proven method of not contracting STDs. The only way.

      I'm sorry, my friend, but if you're going to slut it up... you're going to pay the price. All the latex and gels in the world won't give you the same protection as abstinence.

      The problem is it only works in theory. In reality, on large scales, even kids with abstinence rings end up doing it, and getting pregnant or catching a STD. The reality is, most people just have to get laid, no matter what you say or what they say, they're gonna do it. All you can do is make sure the ones who will do it will do it properly. Pretending that it's as easy as not doing it is sticking your head in the sand. Abstinence alone isn't enough. You also need to be completely reliable, which is foolish to assume from anyone. Or very unattractive.

      --
      You just got troll'd!
  6. hypocrisy by je+ne+sais+quoi · · Score: 5, Informative

    John McCain's stance on copyright infringement is hypocritical. The reason is that he is currently being sued by Jackson Browne for copyright infringement because he used the song "Running on Empty" without permission. This looks to be yet another Republican professing high fallooting morals but who by his deeds is shown to believe that morality is for the populace and doesn't apply to him.

    --
    Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the war room!
    1. Re:hypocrisy by Dhalka226 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Right from the article you linked:

      A McCain spokesman said the ad in question, which mocks Sen. Barack Obama, was put together by the Ohio GOP.

      The article isn't even 100 words, could you not make it all the way through? I know /.'ers are notorious for not reading the article, but one would think they wouldn't link it as support for a dubious claim without giving it a once-over.

      It isn't even being run by him or his campaign. Even if it were, it's entirely probable that he would have nothing to do with the ad other than a final "go ahead and run it." It would not be at all unreasonable to assume that even if he took note of the fact that they were using the song, that he assumed his staffers had done their job and obtained proper permission to do so. If I were a presidential candidate, I know I would have much more important things to do than micromanage my team.

      I haven't seen the ad in question, but if it's anything like most political ads it runs about 30 seconds long, which in my mind would also bring up a fair use question even if the song ran the entire duration. The article also doesn't mention anything about whether or not anybody was contacted with a request to stop using the song or compensate the artist or if he just went straight to lawsuit town.

      I'm not a McCain supporter by any stretch, but your post is just ridiculous. Then again it's patently obvious you made up your mind long ago and are inventing lame "issues" to try to lambast him with, so I suppose you'll just come back with a "zomg he's lying he's a politician lolerskatz."

    2. Re:hypocrisy by remove+office · · Score: 4, Informative

      Actually, both the McCain campaign and the RNC have gotten itself in hot water several times for using copyrighted music or video clips without permission during this cycle.

      A few examples:

      McCain was served with a cease and desist letter from Fox News after he used their broadcast footage in a commercial without buying it...

      McCain was sued by Mike Myers after he used a clip from a skit from SNL without purchasing it or getting permission from Myers himself (Myers isn't the copyright owner, but that's irrelevant).

      McCain got yelled at by copyright owners for using the "Rocky" theme song in an ad without permission.

      One of McCain's YouTube videos have been hit with a copyright infringement claim by Warner Music Group after the campaign used a song by Frankie Valli without permission.

      Of course, all of this is not to mention McCain's little plagiarism issue with Wikipedia...

  7. Re:grr. by chuckymonkey · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sadly when it comes to things such as network neutrality, MAFIAA litigation, censorship of the internet, and understanding how the internet has the potential to be an unstoppable force of intellectual freedom most U.S. citizens are woefully ignorant. They care about gas prices, making sure that they are not responsible for raising their kids, ensuring that gay couples are not recognized as a legal union, and which religion the candidate subscribes to. They have forgotten that there is a reason the the freedom of speech was the very first amendment, I have met very few that ever read the Federalist Papers, hell half of the people that I talk to have never even read the constitution or have the most basic understanding of how our government works. The internet has the power to be the most perfect force for the first amendment which is essential to the rest of the Constitution and in all honesty I don't think the GOP really wants the average citizen to have that kind of power.

    --
    "Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes."-Tycho
  8. Re: McCain Releases Technology Platform by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Oh great. Yet another Linux distribution that www.distrowatch.org is going to have to track. "McCain-ix"
    Probably needs 1GB just to load. I'll stick with Obama-mama-ix thanks.

    I can't wait for the Barack Software Distribution. There's no way in hell McCain-ix can beat BSD.

  9. Did he ever have your vote? by an.echte.trilingue · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I knew this kind of position was coming as soon as he said he didn't know how to use a computer. He obviously doesn't understand the issues, so naturally he is just going to default to his party's (or contributor's) position.

    If I were in his place and somebody asked me to formulate a position on farming, I would do the same thing. That's why it is important to look at what party a candidate belongs to and who is giving him money.

    --
    weirdest thing I ever saw: scientology advertising on slashdot.
    1. Re:Did he ever have your vote? by NicknamesAreStupid · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not true, I heard that his first girlfriend was Ada Lovelace.

  10. He picked Carly Fiorina as an advisor by HangingChad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Arguably one of the worst leaders in the tech industry. It's no wonder his technology positions don't make any sense. That's like picking Jeffery Skilling as an energy advisor...wait, he doesn't need him, he's got Phil Gramm. With the added advantage that Gramm isn't in federal prison...yet.

    Let's just pick the most incompetent, corrupt people from every industry we can find and bring them together in one party. It's no wonder his positions on technology don't make any sense. A classic case of the problem dictating the solution.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  11. Really? by Nicolas+MONNET · · Score: 4, Informative

    Technology is my area of expertise, and I guess it's that of many slashdot readers. There is probably no other area where we can judge a candidate as well; therefore if his program sucks balls in this respect, it's probably just fair to extrapolate to the others.
    Besides, McCain is Bush III. He's pro war, pro war on terra, and so on.

    1. Re:Really? by blueg3 · · Score: 3, Funny

      If you were going to do this properly, you could at least pick the correct logical fallacy than just selecting the one that everyone knows about.

    2. Re:Really? by finiteSet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Tell me this: has Bush kept us safe since 9/11?

      No. Inspiring the next generation of poor, angry, anti-American would-be-terrorists is not keeping us safe, it is setting us up for long-term failure.

      Day to day life has been devastated for many in the middle east, with aggressive US foreign policy as the catalyst (if not cause). Rightly or wrongly, it gives a new generation someone on which to assign blame for the problems they face.

      Bush's bandaid will fall off sooner or later.

      --
      If we start buying CDs then the terrorists have already won.
  12. Re:"protect children from porn, and avoid regulati by fedos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How about, "I'll protect the American consumer, and I'm against net-neutrality[sic]"?

  13. Re:Who takes platforms seriously in an election? by rtb61 · · Score: 5, Informative
    The most wildly blatant contradiction, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and he doesn't know how to use a computer. Man, you guys can really pick them, now I know how you managed to have both shrubs running the CIA and why the CIA made such a hack job of collect evidence on all those so called terrorists in GITMO.

    The really lamest part of course is 'Educate Its Workforce For The Innovation Age', all the lamest politicians the world over have been rabbiting on about exactly the same thing and then in the next breath, global marketplace and free trade, with the net result that all those job are outsourced to countries that pay one tenth the wage and you have a flood of people in the food services industry with tech degrees. Either that or cannon fodder for the military industrial complex.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  14. Re: McCain Releases Technology Platform by urcreepyneighbor · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll stick with Obama-mama-ix thanks.

    That's still vaporware. :)

    --
    "The fight for freedom has only just begun." - Geert Wilders
  15. Just look at the URLs :) by jopsen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I took a look around the different campaign sites it's clear McCain is EVIL!
    Links at McCain site:
    johnmccain.com/Blog/Read.aspx?guid=3d8ee2ad-d7f2-4f3d-ad9f-ffe1b41ca178

    Links a Obamas Site:
    http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

    Clearly, McCain is using a Microsoft server and Obama is using mod_rewrite or similar technology... Probably a rather none-evil technology...

    Also at validator.w3.org:
    McCain has: 124 Errors, 44 warning(s)
    Obama has: 8 Errors
    I'd say this proofs McCain is evil!

  16. Encouraging scientific education by dlur · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How does either candidate expect to move interest in science forward in the US when you can no longer: a) buy a home chemistry set, b) you end up with government agents raiding your house if you have a LEGAL home chemistry lab (ala Mass.), c) experimenting with home-built fireworks or small-scale explosives is now an act of "terrorism"?

    No kids are going to get interested in science anymore because all of the cool things we did as children to pique our interest in science are now illegal or acts of international terrorism.

    --
    Duris MUD - The best pkill MUD. Ever.
  17. My Scorecard by davide+marney · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My scorecard for the McCain platform. Rated on a uninflated A-F grading scale, where a "C" means the norm.

    John McCain Supports Risk Capital For Investment In American Innovation

    Grade: C. OK; nothing specific to the tech sector, though.

    John McCain Will Not Tax Innovation By Keeping Capital Gains Taxes Low.

    Grade: C. A good idea in general, but not of particular help to technology.

    John McCain Will Reform And Make Permanent The R&D Tax Credit.

    Grade: B. Good idea.

    John McCain Will Lower the Corporate Tax Rate To 25 Percent To Retain Investment In U.S. Technologies.

    Grade: C. Again, a good idea for the economy in general, but doesn't do anything to specifically address technology.

    John McCain Will Allow First-Year Expensing Of New Equipment And Technology.

    Grade: B. Good idea.

    John McCain Will Ensure Technology And Innovation Is Not Hampered By Taxes On Internet Users.

    Grade: C. OK, fine, but I'm not buying the rationale at all here. I think this is code for "no government regulation". A vast amount of bricks-and-mortar commerce has been moved onto the Internet. If we accept taxation of commerce, we should have no problem accepting taxation of it on the Internet.

    John McCain Opposes Higher Taxes On Wireless Services.

    Grade: C. OK, lower taxes, yeah, but what we are buying with our taxes in the first place?

    America Must Educate Its Workforce For The Innovation Age.

    Grade: B. Grants for higher ed are a good bargain for taxpayers.

    Fill Critical Shortages Of Skilled Workers To Remain Competitive.

    Grade: B. Good idea. More flexibility on H-1B visas will help.

    John McCain Has Been A Long And Ardent Supporter Of Fair And Open World Trade.

    Grade: C. Nice to know.

    Competition Has Been A Great Strength For America -- Offering Opportunity, Low Prices, And Increased Choice For Our Citizens. Markets work best when there is robust competition.

    Grade: D. McCain had a chance to address the real problems of non-competitiveness that plague the technology sector, and ducked.

    John McCain Will Protect The Creative Industries From Piracy.

    Grade: D. Another disappointment. The "creative industries" already have plenty of money, lawyers, lobbyists, and memberships in the exclusive clubs needed to get the protection they need. Who's giving the people the protection they need? Not the government, apparently.

    John McCain Will Push For Greater Resources For The Patent Office.

    Grade: C. Obviously needed; basic good management.

    John McCain Will Pursue Protection Of Intellectual Property Around The Globe.

    Grade: C. OK, fine; more good management.

    Provide Alternative Approaches To Resolving Patent Challenges.

    Grade: B. Some innovation here is long overdue. Good idea.

    John McCain Will Preserve Consumer Freedoms.

    Grade: B. Freedom is good, and additional attention in this area is needed to keep a level playing field.

    When Regulation Is Warranted, John McCain Acts.

    Grade: C. OK, that's the right pattern, but McCain seems to not get the fact that the tech sector really needs some tough love from the government right now. If regulation is not warranted now, when would it be?

    John McCain does not believe in prescriptive regulation like "net-neutrality," but rather he believes that an open marketplace with a variety of consumer choices is the best deterrent against unfair practices.

    Grade: F. The telco marketplace is anything

    --
    "We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
  18. Re:grr. by Grym · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The difference is that Democrats will get more votes from young people who think that only chumps (and old people like McCain) should have to pay for movies, and who capable of compartmentalizing their "respect" for their favorite musicians separately from their willingness to happily rip them off. The hypocrisy is stunning. They don't want to be told what they can and can't do online (including burning a huge portion of the available bandwidth while ripping off entertainment), but they want the ability to tell a business that builds and sustains a network how they should operate it.

    I love it when Baby Boomers get on generational tirades like this. It has genuine comedic quality about it, particularly given how ridiculous and hypocritical it is.

    But since you seem to be a true-believer, let me clear it up for you, old timer. "Young people" are, knowingly or not, rejecting the flawed assumptions and unjust laws that have effectively attempted to privatize human culture for the benefit of a greedy few at the very top of content distribution companies who are better at bribing the legislature than serving their own customers. What you describe as pathological compartmentalization is, in actuality, the very natural returning shift in public values to a more balanced, modern view of copyright protections. In short, the pendulum is finally swinging back towards the social-contract view of government-granted, temporary monopolies described in Article I section 8 of the constitution, which references not the "rights" of companies or starving artists but the "progress of science and useful arts".

    -Grym

  19. Re: McCain Releases Technology Platform by Darundal · · Score: 4, Funny

    But McCain-ix is undeveloped, closed source abandonware.

  20. Re:grr. by blueg3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I actually get my MP3s off the intarwebs for free and then mail the artists the 10 cents per album they would have gotten if I bought the CD.

  21. Re:grr. by Darby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The hypocrisy is stunning. They don't want to be told what they can and can't do online (including burning a huge portion of the available bandwidth while ripping off entertainment), but they want the ability to tell a business that builds and sustains a network how they should operate it.

    Your hypocrisy is stunning.
    The ISPs didn't build and sustain the networks. We the people were robbed at gunpoint to pay for them to do so. They refused to deliver what we already paid them to do and instead siphoned off the money to executive salaries and bonuses.
    So until they deliver what they lobbied to force us the pay them to do, they have no rights and no legitimate authority over *our* networks.

    If they wanted intelligent, informed people (unlike yourself) to support their right to own their network, then they should have actually paid for it themselves. So by your delusional statement that they should be allowed to screw over my use of *my* property which *I* paid for you demonstrate not only hypocrisy, but the belief that you, me and everyone else in the country are nothing more than the slaves of whoever bribes the government enough.

    You really should consider relocating to a country like China or Saudi Arabia where they already share your values rather than trying to drag this country whose values you despise down to their levels. It is, of course, the ethical thing to do which is why I'm not holding my breath waiting for you to do it.